LUAU BENEDICTS

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.

 Submitted to:

MY GRANDMA’S GRANOLA RECIPE

This month for Cultural Connection I am staying right here in America. I am bringing you my grandmother’s recipe for granola, I think she just called it dry cereal when I was a kid. She raised a family during the depression, and because of that was very frugal. She even used to make her own cracked wheat bread, where my grandma and grandpa had use an old (well it’s old to me) glass jar coffee grinder to crack the wheat in.. My dad used to love getting store bought bread as a kid because it was a special treat for him. We never could get that recipe from her, because she didn’t use one (of course, many grandma’s recipes are not written down).

I had to check to see if granola was in fact an American discovery and indeed it is. You can read the long version or check out a brief history of granola (the brief is through the eyes of Crapola-a granola company)…but in short it was JH Kellogg who came up with granola in 1863, and it might of fallen into obscurity, but was rediscovered and popular once again by the health food movement of the 1960’s.
There are many was you can make granola, but this is my grandma’s recipe the way I grew up eating it.
Ingredients:
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup oat bran (she used bran flour)
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut (I use the wide flakes)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey

The nice thing about granola is there has to be one for everyone and there are many way you can make it: Add some cinnamon and apple or pumpkin pie spice, or nutmeg and ground cloves, or leave out the coconut or sunflower seeds, add some pepitas or other nuts…it is endless….  I added chopped crystallized ginger in this one (I’ve been on a ginger kick lately) I have also used dried cherries or cranberries, but you can use other dried fruit you might like. My grandma didn’t use dried fruit in hers, but as always…you can add what you like.
It’s really simple, just dump and mix! A large bowl works best and I start with a wooden paddle spoon and end up using my hands!
Then spread it on one or two cookie sheets pressing it down in the pans. I use my stoneware bar pan it’s large, I also used my medium size bar pan.
Toast at 350° for 10-12 minute then stir and turn. Continue to toast it for another 10-12 minutes until the desired golden toasted, crispy, goodness. If you are adding dried fruit add that and mix it in when the granola comes out of the oven, that way it doesn’t get too hard and chewy.
You can eat it in a bowl and add milk or just snack on it as is. Use it as a topping for ice creams, yogurts or desserts. I have been making my own granola for years and really have a hard time eating any store bought granola…it’s just not the same. I like how mine is not too sweet, and you can control all the good stuff that goes in it!

Thanks for stopping by on this beautiful Saturday!

CARROT CAKE PANCAKES & CREAM CHEESE SYRUP

I love carrot cake.  If you asked me what I wanted for my birthday cake I would say Carrot Cake!  So when we found this cute little diner, Babycakes Cafe, recently and they had carrot cake pancakes on the menu I had to give them a try.  And then I had to duplicate them.  YUMMY!!!!!!!!!

So I started with my basic pancake recipe and added lots of carrots and spices. Their cream cheese syrup at the restaurant was really more like a glaze, so I used maple syrup as my liquid ingredient to make an actual syrup and like it even better!

The carrot cake pancakes were easy to make and tasted great! And it is always nice to have dessert for breakfast!

CARROT CAKE PANCAKES & CREAM CHEESE SYRUP

1 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups buttermilk

2 JUMBO eggs

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup carrot (very finely grated)

4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

4-6 tablespoons maple syrup (use enough for desired consistency)

powdered sugar to taste

crushed pecans or walnuts

  • Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg together in a large bowl.
  • Whisk together the milk, egg, sugar and carrot in another bowl.
  • Mix together the wet and dry ingredients making sure to not over mix them.
  • Heat a griddle and melt some butter on it to coat.
  • Pour 1/3-1/4 cup of the mixture onto the griddle for each pancake and heat until the surface starts to bubble and the bottom is golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.
  • Flip the pancakes and cook the other side until the bottom is golden brown, about 1-2 minutes.
  • Blend together the cream cheese and maple syrup and add  powdered sugar to get desired sweetness.
  • Pour the cream cheese onto the pancakes.
  • Sprinkle with crushed nuts.

APRICOT PINEAPPLE MONKEY BREAD

APRICOT PINEAPPLE MONKEY BREAD*

BREAD
1 cup scalded milk
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1teaspoon salt
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup rum
1/2 cup minced walnuts
2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 Jumbo eggs, beaten
4 1/2 – 5 cups flour
TOPPING
20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained well
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, super firmly packed
1/2 cup apricot pineapple preserves**
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2+ teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins*
1/4 cup rum*

  • Soften the yeast in the warm water.
  • Stir together the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
  • Soak the raisins in the rum until needed. Drain before adding to the bread.
  • Combine the milk, shortening, sugar and salt. Cool to lukewarm.
  • Add yeast to milk mixture and then the eggs, the raisins and nuts.
  • Add the flour. Mix to a soft dough.
  • Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Turn over once, cover with a cheesecloth and let rise until double in size.
  • Punch down and let stand ten minutes.
  • Prepare the topping while the dough is standing.
  • Melt the butter in a saucepan.
  • Add the preserves, brown sugar, cinnamon and almond extract. Cook until smooth and fairly thin.
  • Add the pineapple (and raisins if you’re using refrigerator rolls) and heat through.
  • Roll into many small balls about the size of golf balls.
  • Grease a Bundt cake pan. (I like to use my pineapple upside down cake pan.
  • Arrange a layer of the balls haphazardly in the cake pan.
  • Dribble about half the topping loosely over them.
  • Arrange the other half of the dough balls.
  • Pour remaining sauce over top.
  • Allow to rise until double in size (about 1 1/4-1 1/2 hours)
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.
  • Enjoy

*You can cheat and use 3 cans of refrigerator biscuits instead if you’re in a hurry. If you still want the raisins you can add them to the topping instead.
**You can use pretty much any flavor you want – I also use raspberry, peach and blackberry depending on my mood. A lot of times I combine the peach and blackberry half and half.

Granola: Make extra to give as a gift!

Not only is granola super easy to make and fun to customize, it can also be a great gift! (Not that anyone still has shopping to do, I’m sure).
The cookbook More With Less provides a great template for making your own granola.
Step 1: Choose 7 cups of dry ingredients, including at least 2-3 cups of dry oats plus your choice of the following, and combine:
  • wheat germ
  • whole wheat f lour
  • wheat bran
  • wheat grits
  • cornmeal
  • soy flour, grits, or roasted beans
  • grape nuts
  • uncooked cereals
  • sunflower seeds
  • sesame seeds
  • pumpkin seeds
  • coconut
  • dry milk solids
  • nuts (chopped)
  • spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg
Step 2: In a separate bowl, combine 1 C of liquids of your choice. Ideas:
  • honey
  • maple syrup
  • molasses
  • oil
  • brown sugar
  • oil
  • melted margarine
  • peanut oil
  • coconut oil
  • milk or cream
Step 3: Mix well and bake in large greased baking pans at 300F for 30-60 minutes, stirring often.
Step 4: Add dried fruit and nuts as desired. Or even chocolate chips!
For more from-scratch recipes, visit my blog at http://thelocalcook.com

Green Chili Cheddar Eggs

This healthy meal would make a great brunch. In our case, dinner but we love breakfast for dinner.  It made for several days of leftovers so I was able to enjoy it for breakfast too!

I love green chiles, I was a little cautious about putting 2 cans in here but I am SO glad I did. I think people tend to shy away from the green chiles as they think they will be spicy.  Well, they aren’t really spicy, just super flavorful.
We ate this with an awesome southwestern hash that complemented the eggs beautifully.  There was nothing spicy about this meal, just full of flavor.  It was also very hearty and filling as well as incredibly healthy!

Green Chile Eggs Recipe

8 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
4 ounces cheddar cheese
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chiles

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. 

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in the milk and flour, then mix in the green chilies and cheese.  Pour into the prepared pie plate. 

Bake in the oven until the center is set, about 35-40 minutes.

Total calories = 1089 calories
8 servings = 136 calories per serving

Green Chili Cheddar Eggs + Southwestern Hash = 311 calories


Check out more recipes on Debbi Does Dinner Healthy!

Alexis’ Mini Apple Bundt Cakes

Alexis started a new job at a hospital a few weeks ago and is starting to fit in with her coworkers. You know how it is when you start a new job. You start to figure out who you like and those you realize, “Man, he wasn’t just having a bad day….he’s always an a**hole!”

Anyway, the other day she wanted to surprise them by bringing in a breakfast treat. She took the Zucchini Bread recipe from the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook (10th Ed. 1984) and changed it into something entirely different.

Alexis’ Mini Apple Bundt Cakes
Yields: 4 dozen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon, fresh grated
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg, fresh grated
1 cup sugar
1 cup fuji apple, peeled and finely grated
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/4 tsp lemon peel

Garnishes: Agave nectar and powdered sugar

Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, mix the sugar, apple, oil, egg and lemon peel together.

Mix the two bowls together just long enough to get them combined. Then walk away and let it sit for 10 minutes (The walk away tip courtesy Alton Brown’s waffle recipe).

Preheat your oven to 350f. Using a greased mini bundt pan (or a cup cake tin), fill each cup a little over half full with the batter.

Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes or until a toothpick/cake tester comes out clean. Remove to a cooling rack and let rest for 10 minutes.

Drizzle with agave nectar.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

And then try to hide them from your family until they are cooled because they tend to disappear quickly even if you ARE cooking them for SOMEONE ELSE!

If you follow my blog at Nibble Me This, you know I am NOT a sweets kind of guy. I don’t eat much pie or cake. These little beauties were good and I MIGHT have taken one or four before Alexis started packing them up 🙂 But in my defense, you get to pop a whole (mini) bundt cake into your mouth, how could I resist that?

(Side note: If you have a round grill or know someone who does, enter my cast iron grate giveaway on my blog. It should be delivered by Christmas if you win and makes a ‘GRATE’ gift for the griller in your life. It’s over a $100 value and is one of my favorite grill tools.)

BUTTERMILK WAFFLES – SIMPLY SWEET

Buttermilk Waffles
Makes 8-12 waffles
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Scant 2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons salted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, separated
Pinch cream of tartar

  • Heat the waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees.  Set a wire rack over a baking sheet and set aside.
  • Meanwhile, whisk the flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl.  
  • In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, and egg yolks together.  
  • In a small bowl whip the egg whites and cream of tartar together until foamy.
  • Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour the buttermilk mixture into the well, and gently whisk together until just incorporated with a few lump remaining (do not overmix).
  • Fold in the whipped whites using a rubber spatula until just combined with very few strokes.
  • Spoon batter onto the waffle iron and cook until golden brown, about 3 1/2 minutes.  Transfer the waffles to the wire rack (don’t overlap), cover with a cheesecloth towel, and keep warm in the oven.
  • Repeat with the remaining batter.  Before serving, remove the towel and let the waffles crisp in the oven, about 3 minutes.

aprons 3

Try a New Recipe: Crepes

Don’t forget to visit me at The Bad Girl’s Kitchen for more fabulous recipes!

Bonjour!!!

As this recipe posts, my family and I will be flying over the ocean, on our way to….
PARIS!!!
We’ll arrive today just before noon, Paris time, which means only one thing: It will be Time To Eat!!! I’m very excited. But I just want you to know, I’m not kRaZy enough to post recipes while I’m actually in France, so these next few weeks I’ve done my best to come up with some recipes for French-ish food we love.
When I return, I’ll fill you in on all our luscious culinary adventures. (and it’s possible I’ll sneak in a comment or two while I’m abroad, but don’t count on it!)
So let’s start with crepes. I am looking forward to eating some of these for sure. We love crepes! They are easy to make, and so delicious. This recipe makes quite a lot of them.

We serve ours with several different toppings, depending on what we’ve got: sliced strawberries, peaches, cottage cheese, Mexican crema (table cream), maple syrup, and bananas sauteed in butter, brown sugar and a splash of rum.


Crepes
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour

In blender, mix milk and eggs, mix in flour, then blend in melted butter. Cook on greased medium hot crepe pan. Pour about 1/3 cup batter quickly onto hot crepe pan, quickly tilting pan to cover the entire surface. Cook on one side until beginning to brown, then quickly flip and cook for a few more seconds. This is a fast process that you will need to practice to get the hang of, and the first few crepes never, ever turn out quite right. Just keep after it, and they’ll start to turn out. Serve right away, or you can refrigerate or freeze them for another time.

THE perfect over medium egg!!

Do you love eggs?  I do and there is nothing better than a perfect over medium egg for me.  I like my whites done and my yolks runny so I can sop them up with my toast. So many times the yolks break trying to flip the eggs, but I have finally figured it out and it is soooooooooooooo simple!
THE PERFECT “OVER MEDIUM” EGG
per egg:
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon water
salt and pepper to taste
  • Melt the butter in your pan over a medium high heat.
  • Crack eggs into the butter.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • When whites begin to solidify add the water and cover.
  • The rest of this is a matter of watching closely.  When the whites are done they will no longer jiggle.  Turn off the heat immediately and your yolks will be perfect.
  • Serve with your favorite toast.

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Korean Pancakes

I don’t know if other foodie bloggers find themselves, looking for new recipes, rather than making old favorites. I do. I love to try new recipes and see what turns out. No matter what the recipe tells me is going to happen, I really never know what I am going to turn out with. By now, you know, I tend to make changes in recipes. Oh, I have good reasons, like not having a necessary ingredient, or I may not like a particular ingredient or time causes a change in the method. The fun is in the doing and meeting new challenges and seeing the results. This is one of those recipes. The final results are definitely not what Emeril had in mind and not what I had in mind. Despite this, the resulting dish was filled with flavor and had an unexpected texture.
Ingredients:
For the sauce:
3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce – gluten-free
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
1 frozen chili cube
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons lightly toasted sesame seeds 
½ teaspoon sugar
pancakes:
9 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 bunch scallions, trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and cut into 2 inch lengths
4 ounces mushrooms, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups gluten-free flour mixture
1 ½ cups water
2 eggs
Method:
Make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, vinegar, honey, chili, garlic powder, sesame seeds and sugar in a small bowl, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside while you make the pancakes.
In a medium sauté pan over medium high heat, add 1 teaspoon of the vegetable oil.
Next, add the scallions and mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms begin to wilt, about 3 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, water, and eggs and mix gently until just combined.
Add the cooked scallions, mushrooms, and salt and fold together briefly just to combine.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and, when hot, coat with 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil.
Add ½ of the pancake batter and use a spoon to spread into a 6 to 8-inch circle, trying to get the filling ingredients as evenly spread out as possible.
Cook the pancake about 4 minutes.
Once the pancake has begun to set and is golden brown on the bottom, flip the pancake to the other side, pressing with a spatula to compress ingredients.
Cook until golden brown on the second side, about 2 minutes longer, transfer to a warm plate and cover loosely with foil to keep warm while you prepare the remaining pancakes.
Once all the pancakes have been cooked, cut into wedges and serve warm with the dipping sauce in small bowls for dipping.
Yield: 4 large pancakes or 10 appetizer servings 
Where I went wrong: Four minutes is a long time to cook a thin pancake and mine did not even change color at four minutes. I had this pale, emaciated pancake staring at me and telling me to cook it longer. I did. When it changed to a golden color, I turned it and cooked the other side until it became golden, also, longer than the prescribed two minutes. What happened, was those soft pancakes, hardened and became deliciously crisp. I know , this is not the way, they should be, but they were almost like a favorable cracker but not that crisp. The veggies were soft so I ended up with a crispy pancake with soft vegetables. Everyone ate them and my husband did his usual, mentioned that they were spicy. That was from the chili cube. Spicy is good in this recipe but if you are not a spicy lover, eliminate the chili flavoring. I am getting more and more used to spicy flavoring and like some of them. I have to say, my hubby was a doll, and took seconds. I am hoping, in time, he will adjust to a bit more spice, in his food. In the meanwhile, I modify, most times.
Please visit me at the Comfy Cook and My Sweet and Savory.
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Cheese Latkes

            For more recipes, join me at Comfy Cook and My Sweet and Savory

Cheese Latkes – This comes from the Holiday Series on My Sweet and Savory.  I was looking at some of the pancake recipes, I had posted on my blogs and saw cheese latkes and felt hunger pangs.  I decided to share with you since, I was not going to cook.
I happen to love cheese latkes. For those of you, who do not use the word latkes, try pancakes. There is something heartwarming about pancakes. It brings back memories of when my children were little and pancakes were a Sunday morning breakfast, particularly “puzzle pancakes.” There will be a photo below. That was the part of making pancakes that was fun, creating shapes that looked like animals or familiar objects. Sometimes, we didn’t know until the pancake was on the plate, what it turned out to be, if anything. The ones, below had no significance to me but if you find something in them, do share.
Although I found this recipe on Goldmine.com, it comes from one of my favorite cookbooks and chances are that I have made these, several times, over the years. The book is a big purple hard covered book which is well worn and it is called, Spice and Spirit, The Complete Kosher Cookbook. There are good solid recipes in the book and has been a go-to book up until I began my journey to learn how to cook gluten free. Then, I expanded and picked up a few gluten-free books to later find, I did better with regular cookbooks, making my own adjustments.
As a result, I built a new library (small but good for me) and attempted to get books by many of the cooks we bake or cook “with” online. Today, I got the best one, so far, Baking, from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan. I thought I would sit down and put a sticky on a few pages that caught my eye. I found that every page had a great recipe and that the sticky solution is not a solution, with this book. I think now, I will look at the recipes, that Tuesdays with Dorie has used, and make some of them.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup cottage cheese, drained   (use Ricotta for a more refined taste)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used a gluten-free mix)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil for frying
Method:
Place all the ingredients except oil together in a large bowl. Mix until smooth.
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a skillet.
Using a large spoon, drop the batter into hot oil.
Fry 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned.
Continue until the batter is used up, adding oil when necessary.  The latkes may be served topped with sour cream, applesauce or maple syrup. (I went for the maple syrup. Hubby ate them plain.)
These make a good weekend breakfast, a lunch dish, even a snack.