Category: RECIPES

Baked Smoked Turkey in a Slow Cooker: What Did You Bake Today?

I realize that I am completely pushing the limits of the whole “bake” thing with this post.  Hopefully, you will have it in your hearts to hear me out.  This is a new technique I learned reading Cheater BBQ by Mindy Merrill and R.B. Quinn.  The premise being that slow cookers can act as mini ovens on occasion.  By wrapping meat tightly in foil, it doesn’t end up like the typical crockpot stew but stays firm as though it were cooked in the oven.
 
Now, here’s the bad news.  This is the only picture I took of the turkey breast.  Yep!  You have to use your imagination and trust me a Lot!
Smoked Turkey Breast (based on the Cheater BBQ Hobo Crock Turkey Breast)
One thawed turkey breast
4 Tbls butter, melted
1/4 cup liquid smoke
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
Line the crockpot with foil large enough to completely encase the turkey breast.  Place the turkey in the middle of it.  Combine the spices and rub them all over the meat, including in the cavity.  Combine the butter and liquid smoke and pour it all over everything.  Wrap the foil over the turkey, sealing snuggly.  Cook on low 6-8 hours or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.  I cooked mine for the originally prescribed 10 hours and had a very dry bird.   Serve with your favorite BBQ sauce.
We only ate half of the meat.  With the leftovers, I borrowed another recipe from the Cheater BBQ cookbook…..and I really baked it in the oven.
Cornbread Turkey Bean Casserole:
3 cups chopped leftover smoked turkey
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 Tbls olive oil
2 cans Texas Ranch style beans (ranch brand)
1 can hickory bbq beans (bush’s brand)
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 heaping tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small can green chilies
Saute the onion in the oil until soft.  Combine the meat, beans and onion and pour into the bottom of a greased casserole dish.  Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the milk until moistened.  Add the cheese and chilies.  Spread the mixture over the beans.  Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until cornbread is done.  (Note: if, like me, you take it out of the oven a bit too soon and find that there is a thin layer of not done cornbread between the beans and the baked cornbread…microwave it for 3 minutes.)
 What Did You Bake Today?
 

White chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookie Mix in a Jar Recipe

C & H Sugar (called Domino Sugar in some regions) recently contacted us at Our Krazy Kitchen and offered for us to use any of their recipes, and link to them for a sweet recipe exchange. There’s no better time than for Save Room for Dessert and tomorrow’s Cookie Party. They have a lot more sweet holiday recipes, gift ideas, shipping tips, even a campaign to raise funds for hungry children. Here’s a sample recipe below, complete with printable gift tag.

White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookie Mix in a Jar
Makes 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup firmly packed C&H Golden Brown Sugar
1/3 cup C&H Pure Cane Sugar
3/4 cup toasted macadamia nuts, chopped
1 cup – (6-oz package) vanilla milk chips

Instructions:
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Spoon into 1-quart, widemouthed canning jar. Layer remaining ingredients in order given, making sure to pack down each layer firmly. Clean inside of jar with a dry paper towel after each layer. Decorate lid by cutting fabric into a 7-inch wide square or circle. Secure with a rubber band and tie with a decorative ribbon and accents.

Download PDF file and attach these instructions to the jar: In a large mixing bowl, cream together 2/3 cup softened butter or margarine, 1 egg, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla until combined. Slowly add contents of jar and mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375°F for 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned.

Quick Tip: Toasting heightens the flavor of nuts. To toast macadamia nuts, spread the nuts in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. Bake in a 350°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown, watching carefully and stirring once or twice to brown evenly.

Full Disclosure: In the interest of full disclosure we were contacted and asked to voice opinion and C&H/Domino Sugar links in exchange for a gift card. We did this because we believe in the product and the recipes and not for payment.

Don’t forget tomorrow’s Cookie Party!

and Save Room for Dessert!

Pick your favorite badge!

Kitchen Dreams & Wishes


All about books, cookbooks that is:
Amazon’s book description: She’s taught us every facet of Italian cooking–from traditional and regional to seasonal and contemporary. She even made us fall in love with pasta again by opening us up to lighter, healthier versions that don’t weigh us down. Now the Food Network star and bestselling author of Everyday Pasta, Giada De Laurentiis, takes us down a new path, sharing her love of food with clean, vibrant, simple flavors and bursts of bright colors that look as beautiful on the plate as they are delicious.

Yes, you will still find those fabulous recipes she remembers so fondly from family meals, but you’ll also find updated twists on classic trattoria favorites–California-inflected, hearty but not overwhelming, and with the perfect balance of healthfulness and terrific flavor. Wouldn’t you love a faster, lighter take on osso buco (here made with turkey instead of veal), a salad with real substance (like one of cantaloupe, red onion, and walnuts), and fish that gets an Italian makeover by way of lots of fresh veggies and accents such as fennel and grapefruit salsa? And let’s not forget dessert. After all, what’s not to adore about little doughnuts dipped in chocolate sauce?

Ranging from soups and snacks to easy entres and elegant dinner-party fare, Giada’s recipes are perfect for any day of the week. And for the first time, she includes a full section of dishes that the little ones will love making as much as they love eating (like mini chicken meatballs). With something to please everyone at your table, Giada’s Kitchen deliciously demonstrates why Giada De Laurentiis has become America’s best-loved Italian cook.

Italy meets California in Giada De Laurentiis’s collection of 100 new recipes. She focuses on fresh ingredients, simple preparation, and bright flavors. Anyone who wants to indulge in the pleasures of Italian food without feeling weighed down will find inspiration for delicious, hearty yet healthy weekday meals. Giada’s recipes satisfy both our desire to eat with gusto and to feel good about what we eat.

Amazon’s book description: Slow-roasted meats, marinated vegetables, surprising flavor combinations, this is not your mother’s sandwich.

With acclaimed restaurants located across the United States, and a high-profile job as head judge of the hit show Top Chef, Tom Colicchio is one of the best-known chefs and personalities in the culinary world today. His popular chain of ’wichcraft sandwich shops is known for crafting sandwiches with high-quality fresh ingredients prepared to Colicchio’s exacting standards. And since the first ’wichcraft opened in 2003, diners can’t seem to get enough.

In ’wichcraft, Colicchio shares the shops’ secrets with step-by-step recipes for all their best-loved offerings.

Amazon’s product description: Anyone who has visited Carmine’s flagship Times Square restaurant knows that Carmine’s food is the best of classic Italian cuisine—each dish prepared simply to bring out the most vibrant flavor and make anyone who tastes it smile and reach for seconds.

Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook reveals the simple secret of Carmine’s longtime success—hearty, rich Italian food, just right for sharing, and perfect for cooking at home!

Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook’s perfect Italian recipes include:
–Appetizers, Soups and Salads: from Chicken Wings Scarpariello-Style to Carmine’s Famous Caesar Salad
–Carmine’s Heroes: from classic Cold Italian Hero sandwiches to Italian Cheesesteak Heroes
–Pasta: from Country-style Rigatoni to Pasta Marinara
–Fish and Seafood Main Courses: from Salmon Puttanesca to Shrimp Fra Diavolo
–Meat and Poultry Main Courses: from Porterhouse Steak Contadina to Veal Parmigiana
–Side Dishes: from Spinach with Garlic and Oil to Creamy Polenta
–Carmine’s Desserts: from Chocolate Bread Pudding to the world-famous Titanic Ice Cream Sundae

Carmine’s restaurant packs them in every night in its four bustling locations, including its warm, festive Times Square flagship where over a million people from all across the country come every year to share meatballs, chicken parmigiana, linguini with clam sauce, and fried calamari. Carmine’s flavors are the tastes Americans love to cook and eat at home—fresh garlic, bubbling tomato sauce, and pasta boiled just to the perfect al dente. Try any of the recipes in Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook and bring home that classic Italian flavor to your family.

Almost Meatless by Joy Manning

excerpt from Amazon’s review: Despite its title, almost every recipe in this book uses meat, fish or eggs. A collaboration between Manning, a former vegan, and Desmond, an unabashed meat lover, the aim is to help Americans, who they believe eat far more meat than is healthy or good for agricultural sustainability, compose meals that are both tasty and filling without having a slab of meat as the overbearing star ingredient. Instead, meat appears in smaller quantities supplemented by layers of flavor in the form of additional savory ingredients that should keep people who usually expect lots of meat from noticing the difference.

Homemade Yellow Cupcakes – What Did You Bake Today?

  As the cake mixes in my pantry get used up, I haven’t been replacing them.  I have decided to make cake from scratch.  This week I had a special request from my family for cupcakes.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to inaugurate my plan.  The result: everyone thought they were amazing and we had none left after dessert was served (yes, it made 18).
From The Good Home Cookbook
White Layer Cake (which isn’t white and became cupcakes)
2 cups flour
1 Tbls baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
Frosting of your choice (I used a can….have to use up what I’ve got before that’s homemade, too)
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk.  Divide equally into 18 greased or paper lined cupcake pans.  Bake 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until done.  Let sit in pan 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire wrack to cool.  Frost when completely cooled.
 
What Did You Bake Today?

Cookie tips, tricks, recipes, more at Our Krazy Kitchen

Do you know the secret to soft, chewy cookies? Under bake them ever so slightly. Cookies are the smallest baked items from our ovens, and they continue to bake while they cool, so even a minute more in the oven makes a huge difference. Also remember that many ovens are in need of recalibration for accurate temperature control, so even if a top chef’s recipe calls for 10 minutes in the oven, the cookies in your oven might only need 8 minutes. It’s a good idea to invest in a reliable food thermometer.

Link your dessert recipes with MckLinky below, and if they are holiday desserts, Christmas cookies, Chanukah family favorites, or other Christmas treat recipes you’ll want to also link them during our Christmas Party starting December 17.

Pick your favorite badge!


Please leave a link to your post, not your homepage,
and be sure to link back to this post or blog.

We interrupt this regularly scheduled meme to bring you Grumpy Guy Salad & Garlic Cheese Bread

GRUMPY GUY SALAD
1 head romaine salad, cut into bite sized pieces & washed

1 orange, peeled, sectioned and cut into pieces
1 kiwi, peeled and chopped.
1 small bunch scallions, sliced thin
1 ripe pear, chopped
1 small bunch asparagus, blanched and cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup snap peas, cleaned & halved
1/3 cup peanut oil
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons sugar
salt & pepper to taste

  • Wash and prep fruit and veggies.
  • Place in a large salad bowl.
  • Whisk together the peanut oil, champagne vinegar, sugar, salt & pepper until well blended.
  • Pour over salad and toss well.
  • Serve with Garlic cheese bread

GARLIC CHEESE BREAD
1/2 cup salted butter
3 cloves garlic
dash of white pepper
3/4 cup grated aged cheddar cheese
sourdough bread

  • Melt butter in a small sauce pan.
  • Mash garlic cloves.
  • Add garlic and cook until golden.
  • Add cheese, salt and pepper whisking until well blended.
  • Spread on sourdough bread.
  • Broil until golden.

Save Room for Dessert during the holiday season

The holiday season is here! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah or perhaps nothing at all, chances are you save room for extra desserts on the buffet table for parties, the dinner table at home, or use desserts as gifts during this time of year.

Link your dessert recipes with MckLinky below, and if they are holiday desserts, Christmas cookies, Chanukah family favorites, or other Christmas treat recipes you’ll want to also link them during our Christmas Party starting December 17.

Pick your favorite badge!

Please leave a link to your post, not your homepage,
and be sure to link back to this post or blog.

Dark Chocolate Pudding Pie w/ Candy Cane Frozen Yogurt – Dieter’s Delight

Dark Chocolate Pudding Pie With Candy Cane Frozen Yogurt
Serves 8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Freeze time: 1 hour
Cook time: 40 minutes

Note: Crushed candy canes make a pretty garnish for this luscious dessert.

1 pint nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt
1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
6 small candy canes, crushed Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process), divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup skim milk
2 1-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons lightly salted butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup hot water

Soften frozen yogurt by letting it sit out for 15 minutes, then stir in peppermint extract and crushed candy canes. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350[degrees] F. Lightly coat a 10-inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk together flour, sugar, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Combine milk, chocolate squares and butter in a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat until chocolate and butter are melted.

Blend well into flour mixture. Transfer batter into prepared pie pan, spreading evenly across bottom.

In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar and 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Sprinkle evenly over batter. Place pie in oven and gently pour hot water over everything (this will create a brownie like top and a gooey bottom).

Bake for 40 minutes; center will be pudding like.

Remove pudding pie from oven and let cool slightly. Spoon each serving onto a dessert plate, and top with a scoop of peppermint frozen yogurt.

Nutrition Score per serving (1 wedge of pudding pie and 1/4 cup peppermint frozen yogurt): 387 calories, 16% fat (7 g; 4 g saturated), 79% carbs (76 g), 5% protein (5 g), 2 g fiber, 148 mg calcium, 2 mg iron, 340 mg sodium.

What have you got that would be yummy for the holidays?

Candy Cane Cookies – Monday Munchies


INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup margarine, butter, Crisco or butter Crisco
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (optional – green)

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine (or whatever), white sugar and powdered sugar. Beat in the egg and *vanilla extract. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. Cover or wrap dough and chill for at least one hour.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets (or use parchment paper). Divide dough into halves. Color one half red by mixing in the food color (green for some too if you want). Roll a small amount of each dough about 3 inches long. Twist colors together like a rope and curve the end like a cane. Place onto prepared cookie sheets.
  3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven.

*If you like peppermint you can add peppermint extract, about a teaspoon in place of the vanilla.

Lemon Meringue Pie: What Did You Bake Today?

One of our favorite pies to have at all major family dinners is lemon meringue pie. The filling is made in the microwave lickety split. The meringue is made using America’s Test Kitchen’s no weep secret. The pie crust is our old tried and true prebaked.
Lemon Meringue Pie:
1 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup sugar
dash salt
1/2 cup cornstarch dissolved in 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (we used more of those wonderful lemons from Florida)
4 egg yolks
1 Tbls butter

In a large microwave safe bowl, combine water, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil in the microwave (at this point, you can’t ruin it, so just keep adding minutes until it boils). Add the cornstarch/water mixture and boil until clear (2 minutes at a time until it reaches that state). Add the lemon juice and egg yolks and cook until thick (1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute). Add butter, cool and fill a 9 or 10″ baked pie shell.

For the Meringue:
4 egg whites, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbls cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Combine the cornstarch and water and microwave until it looks Vaseline (no joke!). Beat the egg whites and sugar until soft peaks appear. Add the cooled cornstarch mixture a dollop at a time and whip until stiff peaks form. Top the lemon pie while it is piping hot, sealing the edges (meringue to crust) and bake 325 degrees for 7 minutes.
What Did You Bake Today?

Lemon Pudding: What Did You Bake Today?

My husband brought 3 bags of lemons back from Florida and we are coming up with all sorts of fun ways to use them. Some of them are the size of large oranges!

This old fashioned recipe is a good way to eat them. As it bakes, the top becomes a sponge cake and the bottom forms a rich, creamy pudding.

Lemon Pudding (from 1980 edition of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)
4 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 cups milk
3 tabespoons flour
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Beat the butter and sugar. Separate the eggs and add the egg yolks. Beat in the flour and then add the milk and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until they form stiff peaks. Fold the egg whites into the lemon mixture. Pour into a 3 quart baking dish. Put that dish into a bigger dish and fill it halfway up with water (the fancy term for this is a bain marie). Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve chilled.
What Did You Bake Today?

Avocado Citrus Salad

Unfortunately our scheduled guest host became unavailable so you’re stuck with me! I hope you enjoy this refreshing salad.


AVOCADO CITRUS SALAD
2 medium ripe avocados, peeled & sliced
2 medium oranges, peeled & sectioned
1 medium pear, cored & thinly sliced
1 cup grapes, halved
1/2 cup snap peas, halved
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
8 cups torn salad greens
1/2 cup peanut oil
Juice of one lemon
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste

  • Whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, lemon juice and salt until sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
  • Pour the dressing mix over the avocados and let sit while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
  • Toss remaining ingredients in salad bowl.
  • Pour the dressing over salad and gently toss to coat well.
  • Serve immediately.

wildatheart

Would you like to be a guest host at Our Krazy Kitchen? We are selecting guest hosts for our new Thursday meme Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner. If you have a good recipe to share let us know!