Blueberry Banana Bread

Last month, I hosted a Pampered Chef party at my house.  We had alot of fun, with good friends and good  food!  The consultant made a really yummy mango salsa to start with, and then she showed us how to dress up chicken breasts with Pampered Chef spices.  I made this delicious Blueberry Banana Bread (in my Pampered Chef stoneware loaf pan), and my Roasted Beet and Pear Salad.  Everybody had a great time, and I got many requests for the bread recipe, so I thought I would share it with you all too! :)

I also wanted to thank everybody who came to the party, and everybody who ordered even if they couldn't make it.  Because of you guys, and the awesome hostess bonus that Pampered Chef offered in July, I got a whopping $440 worth of free products!!!  I also bought a couple of the bigger items at a discounted price, so I ended up with almost a whole new kitchen! :)  Here's a picture of all the stuff I got.  So thanks again!

Now for the bread recipe.  I have tried several banana bread recipes...some good and some not so good. :)  But this one is the best one I have made.  It's always gone in just a day or two!  It's delicious warm or cold, plain or slathered with butter! (That's the way I like it! :D)

Blueberry Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 medium bananas, mashed

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 350°. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.  In another bowl, cream the shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.  Stir in the bananas.  Slowly add the dry ingredients, and mix until just evenly moistened.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Remove to wire rack to cool.  Slice, slather with butter, and devour! ;)

P.S.  This is also a really fun recipe to make with your kids!  Chance loves to help me make this...and eat it! :)

Watermelon Mint Lime Slushy / How to Cut Up a Watermelon

Well, sorry for my long absence!  I know some of you have been faithfully checking this blog, and I want to let you know I appreciate it!  We aren't going to have internet at our house in the near future, so I don't know how often I will blog, but I will try to get some posts up every once in a while! :)

Here's a yummy drink recipe for summer...now that it's half over. :P  We've been enjoying lots of fresh watermelon the last month or so! When it's cheap and in season, why not have it all the time?  Someone once told me that watermelon was expensive, but pound for pound, it is some of the cheapest produce you can buy. :)

Before I share the drink recipe, I'm going to quickly show you how I cube a watermelon.  Most of you probably already know this, but when I saw it the first time, it was like a lightbulb turning on in my head.  It's super easy to cut a watermelon this way!

First, cut the melon in half.  Then place one half, cut side down on a cutting board.  Now take your knife, and cut then end off, just enough to get all the rind off.

Then start to cut the rind off the sides, kind of sliding your knife down in a curving motion.

When you have all the rind cut off, trim all the white and light pink off.  As you can see, I didn't do the best job of this...I had a little boy demanding my attention when I was trying to cut this up and take pictures!   Then cut the watermelon into approximately one inch slices.  I fanned them out a little so you could see what I was doing, but I usually just leave them stacked.

So, line them all up, and start slicing down in one inch strips.  I know the watermelon looks alot pinker in these pictures...I had to switch cameras in the middle of it all!

Then, turn the watermelon a quarter turn, and repeat.  And you have cubed watermelon!

One of the things I like to make with watermelon is this refreshing slushy!  This is another of those recipes that I don't have exact amounts for, because I usually just thow everything in my juicer!

Watermelon Mint Lime Slushy

About 1/4 of a medium seedless watermelon

1 lime

1 small bunch fresh mint leaves

Sugar, to taste

Ice cubes

Cut the watermelon in chunks, and feed into your juicer, alternating with lime (rind and all) and mint.  Pour the juice into your blender and add sugar if desired. (depending on how sweet your watermelon is!)  Add ice cubes, and blend until slushy consistancy.  Pour into glasses, top with a mint spring and enjoy!

Cajun Catfish Cakes

The past week has been quite a week for us!  I had all four wisdom teeth removed last Friday, so things have been a bit out of whack around here!  For the first couple days, I pretty much stayed in bed.  And since then I have been getting back around to cooking and such, but I still have to eat fairly soft foods.  So this yummy recipe came in handy this week!  I usually make this with cod, but that seems to be harder to find these days, so I tried it with catfish, with great results!  I think any mild white fish would work.  We ate these with our first big pickin' of green beans from our garden.  Delicious!

Cajun Catfish Cakes

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 or 4 catfish fillets, cubed
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons fresh parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Lawry's Salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
1 cup saltine cracker crumbs
Flour, salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes, onions and garlic in water until potatoes are nearly tender.  Add the cubed catfish and continue boiling for about 5 more minutes until both the potatoes and fish are soft.  Drain well.  Mash together with the butter and egg.  Stir in seasonings and then cracker crumbs.  Scoop the mixture with an ice cream scoop and form into cakes.  Dip in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper.  Fry in butter (or oil) until browned on both sides.  Serve hot with tarter sauce, if desired.  Enjoy!

Shared at Little House on the Prairie Living http://www.littlehouseliving.com/2011/05/old-fashioned-recipe-exchange-517.html

Grilled Lemon-Basil Chicken

Imagine sitting out on the front porch, listening to the cardinals singing, and watching the flag wave gently in the breeze.  The weather is just at that perfect temperature where you are neither hot nor cold.  Before you on the table is a mason jar of iced tea sweating slightly in the warm air.  You are served Lemon-Basil Chicken straight off the grill, with packets of grilled vegetables, seasoned to perfection with butter, salt, garlic and lemon pepper.  On the table is a large bowl of spinach salad, fresh picked from the garden, with luscious strawberries and crunchy candied almonds, smothered in a tangy sweet creamy poppy seed dressing.  Right beside it is a plate of fresh yeast rolls, still steaming from the oven.

That, my friends, was our perfect  meal tonight.  And now, I want to announce the opening of my restaurant.  Just kidding. :D  But I do want to share this wonderful recipe with you.  This is the perfect spring/summer meal.  I can't wait to have company so I can serve it to them and listen to the oohs and aahs! 

Just another note before I give you the recipe...This is my new favorite basil plant.  It is called Spicy Globe Basil, and it is wonderful!  It is a compact plant, so it would be great for containers.  You could probably even grow this on your windowsill.  The leaves are tiny, so in some recipes like this chicken, you don't even have to cut them up!  This plant is definitely going to be my go-to basil for cooking!

And now, here is the recipe for Lemon-Basil Chicken. This recipe is for 3 chicken breasts, but it could easily be doubled.  I like to use aluminum foil when grilling chicken to keep the meat from drying out or getting too charred.

Grilled Lemon-Basil Chicken

1 tablespoon firmly packed basil, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/8 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

In a medium bowl, combine the first 8 ingredients.  Add chicken breasts, turning to coat all sides, and marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours or longer.  When ready to grill, cut 3 sheets of aluminum foil, about 15 inches long.  Place each chicken breast in the middle of a sheet of foil, and fold the foil around the chicken to seal.  Grill over medium heat for 5 minutes per side.  Remove the foil and grill for 2 1/2 minutes per side.  Serve hot!

This recipe was added to Seasonal Sundays at the Real Sustenance Blog.  Check out the other great recipes!  http://realsustenance.com/seasonal-sunday-04-03-11/

This recipe was added to the Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange at Little House on the Prairie Living.

http://www.littlehouseliving.com/2011/04/old-fashioned-recipe-exchange-45.html

Tiramisu Flavored Ladyfingers

The other day I made Greek spaghetti for a company supper, with tiramisu for dessert.  My family loves tiramisu.  As one of our guests said, "It's like eating a cloud".  For those of you who aren't familiar with this Italian dessert, tiramisu is made with ladyfinger biscuits (Savoiardi), dipped in strong coffee and layered with an egg and mascarpone cheese mixture that is light and fluffy.  The ladyfingers soak up the moisture and turn soft and cake like.  I like to flavor my tiramisu with almond extract and imitation rum flavoring.

After the tiramisu was all gone (it doesn't last long around here!), I got to thinking about how I could capture the flavor of tiramisu in a more portable form...like cookies!  So I came up with this Tiramisu Flavored Ladyfinger recipe.  If you've never had ladyfingers, or have only had the store bought kind, you are in for a treat!  These are soft and cake like when they come out of the oven, but if you let them sit out overnight, (if they last that long!) they get crunchy like the store bought ones.  Yum!

Tiramisu Flavored Ladyfingers

4 eggs, seperated

1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

2 teaspoons instant coffee granules

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 teaspoon imitation rum flavoring

7/8 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 400°.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.  In a medium mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, coffee granules and extracts.  Beat until the coffee has nearly disolved and mixture is thick and light in color. 

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Slowly add the remaining sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy.  Fold half of the egg whites into the yolk mixture. 

Sift together the flour and baking powder, and fold into the yolk mixture, then fold in the remaining egg whites. 

Now, you have a couple of options.  You can put the batter into a large pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tube, and pipe the cookies onto the parchment, about 4 inches long, and a couple inches apart.  Or if you don't care about having the classic ladyfinger shape, you can just spoon the batter into rounds on the parchment paper.

Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Mix together powdered sugar and cocoa powder, and sprinkle over the cookies.  Cool a while before transferring to a cooling rack to dry overnight.

This recipe is entered in the Culinary Smackdown Battle at http://utry.it/2011/03/culinary-smackdown-battlecookies.html.  Go browse all the wonderful cookie recipes this month!

This recipe is part of the Recipe Exchange at Little House on the Prairie Living. http://www.littlehouseliving.com/2011/03/old-fashioned-recipe-exchange-322.html

This recipe is entered in Sweets for a Saturday at http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/03/sweets-for-saturday-9.html



Moroccan Sweet Potato Pitas

When I was thinking of another recipe I could make for the Sweet Potato recipe contest, I had the idea to make these Moroccan Sweet Potato Pitas.  In fact, the idea came to me right about bedtime and it kept me up half the night thinking about it!  I'm a little weird like that...my mind is constantly thinking how to make or improve a recipe! :)  I had a recipe for Moroccan Chicken, and I thought those spices would go excellent with sweet potatoes!  I was right!  These pitas are delicious and filling and make a great meal all by themselves!

Moroccan Sweet Potato Pitas

3 cups sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup tomato juice

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pita bread

In a large frying pan or wok, sauté sweet potatoes in oil until tender on the inside and slightly crisp on the outside.  In a separate saucepan, mix together remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Turn down the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes.  When the sweet potatoes are tender, pour the sauce over them and stir to coat.  Serve warm in pita bread.

I know I'm mixing cuisines here, but I ate mine with hummus and thought it was great!  My husband teases me for closing each blog post with "Enjoy!" but that's what food is for, right? :)  Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins

The other day I saw on Facebook that the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission is having a Bloggers Recipe Contest for the best sweet potato recipes!  My family loves sweet potatoes!  We eat them baked, grilled, fried, in pancakes...well, just about any way!  This morning I was wanting some muffins, so I came up with this yummy (and healthy) recipe for whole wheat sweet potato muffins.  They were a big hit, especially with my four year old son, who helped make them!

Sweet potatoes give them a healthy kick, a yummy sweet flavor, and pretty orange color!  I used half whole wheat flour and half unbleached all purpose flour.  Greek yogurt adds moisture and more protein.  And I used maple syrup instead of highly processed white sugar.  I think these turned out to be a great start to a day!  And definitely kid approved!

Whole Wheat Sweet Potato Muffins

1 cup cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping:

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, yogurt, maple syrup, eggs, butter and vanilla.  In another mixing bowl mix together the flours, baking soda and cinnamon.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Stir until just moistened.  Grease two muffin pans and fill each cup half full with batter.  In a small mixing bowl, mix topping ingredients together.  Sprinkle the topping onto each of the muffins.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Makes 24 muffins.

* I added this recipe to "Sweets for a Saturday" at the Sweet as Sugar Cookies Blog.  Check out all the great recipes at http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-6.html!

* I added this recipe to "Seasonal Sundays" at the Real Sustenance Blog.  Lots more great seasonal recipes at http://realsustenance.com/seasonal-sunday-02-27-11/!

Savory Chicken Stew With Biscuits

Howdy everybody!  I hope you are all staying warm as this winter weather hits our country!  Here is a "comfort food" recipe to warm you up!  I created this thick and savory stew with the leftovers in my fridge last week.  My husband declared it 'covetable' and has been requesting it for lunch almost every day. :)

I had quite a few leftover Cajun chicken thighs (chicken thighs sprinkled with McCormick Cajun seasoning and roasted), and about half a batch of my Roasted Root Vegetables.  The vegetables are a major part of this stew, so I would recommend making a batch!  They are great to keep in the fridge anyway, because they heat up just as good as the first time...or better! :)

First, I boiled the chicken thighs...bones, skin and all in water to make a stock.  Then I strained the chicken out, cooled, and picked the meat off the bones.  You can also use already made chicken stock or broth if you like.  Here is the recipe as I made it.

Savory Chicken Stew with Biscuits

4 cups chicken stock (or broth)

4 cups chicken, chunked

4 cups roasted root vegetables

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

1/8 teaspoon tarragon leaves

1/8 teaspoon rosemary

2 bay leaves

3/4 cups flour

1 cup water

Biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup buttermilk (or milk)

thyme leaves for garnish

In a large stockpot, bring the chicken stock, chicken, and vegetables to a boil.  Turn heat down to medium-low and add salt and seasonings.  Simmer for about 1/2 hour.  Remove bay leaves.  Mix together flour and water, and add to the stew.  Continue to simmer, stirring often until thickened.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450°.  In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients for the biscuits.  Cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the buttermilk all at once and stir to moisten. 

Pour the stew into oven safe containers. (You can use one large one or several smaller ones.  I use small ones to pack for my husbands lunches)  Spoon the biscuit dough onto the top of the stew.  Make sure the stew is still very hot at this point, or the bottom of the biscuit wont be cooked through.  Sprinkle with thyme leaves.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and serve hot!



Little House Living Recipe Exchange

My sister-in-law at Little House Living has started to host an online recipe exchange every Tuesday. This week I added my recipe for pear preserves, and there should be plenty of other great recipe links there too!  Check it out!

Pear Preserves

The other day while I was at the grocery store, I saw pears were on sale for 77¢ a pound!  Around here they are usually around $.149/lb.  So I grabbed a few bags and stuffed them full of pears!  It just happens that we had recently run out of our favorite 'jam'...pear preserves.

I was introduced to this wonderful stuff when I married my husband.  My father-in-law likes to make pear preserves.  It's a perfect blend of sweet fruit flavor and spicy cinnamon.  It's absolutely amazing on my buttermilk biscuits.

So this past Friday, my husband and I worked on peeling, coring and slicing over 20 pounds of pears.  We ended up with about 45 cups of pears, and about 15 cups of peelings, etc. (I'll tell you what I did with those later)  When we were done cooking them down, we had a total of 7 quarts of pear preserves.  We started with jelly jars, but ended up scrambling for all the jars we had available. :)

Here is the recipe for pear preserves...in a smaller batch. :)

Pear Preserves

15 cups pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

5 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

1/8 teaspoon vanilla

Put the pears and sugar together in a large bowl.  Stir until all the pears are coated in sugar.  Now let them set for a couple hours.  The sugar will draw some of the juice out of the pears and they will get syrupy.  After a couple of hours, put the pears and syrup into a large stockpot.  Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally.  You want to cook them until the pears are translucent and alot of the liquid has boiled off, leaving a thick syrup.  Spoon into sterilized canning jars and seal with sterilized lids.  Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Remove from the water and place in a non-drafty area for them to seal.  Enjoy!



As for the peelings, I put them in a sauce pan with 2 cups water, and two cups sugar.  I boiled this down for an hour or so, then strained out the peelings, and boiled the juice down some more to make syrup!   Yummy!

Note:  It is best to remove the cores/seeds before boiling the peels, as consuming too many of the seeds can be poisonous.

Find more canning and preserving recipes at Little Natural Cottage at http://www.littlenaturalcottage.com/?p=2155

Baked Blueberry French Toast

Here's a yummy warm breakfast without too much effort in the morning!  This is a great dish to make when you have company for breakfast, but don't like to get up too early...like me. :)  You put this french toast together the night before, let it sit in the fridge overnight, and pop it in the oven 45 minutes before breakfast. :)

 

Baked Blueberry French Toast

1 large loaf of french or italian bread

Cinnamon sugar, to taste

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (optional)

6 eggs, beaten

1 cup cream

1 1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Start by cutting the loaf of bread into 1 inch cubes, and the cream cheese into half inch cubes.  Spread half of the cubed bread in a greased 9 x 13 baking pan.  Top with all the cream cheese, and one cup of blueberries.  Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar.  Layer the rest of the bread, and then the rest of the blueberries.  In a large mixing bowl, mix the eggs, cream, milk, maple syrup and vanilla.  Whisk together.  Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread. You might want to gently press the bread down into the egg mixture, to make sure all the bread is wet.  Sprinkle again with cinnamon sugar, and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, bake at 375º for 45 minutes.  Enjoy with more maple syrup!

Roasted Root Vegetables

Here's a great recipe I just created for wintertime.  All of these vegetables are 'in season' so they are cheaper and easy to get in the winter.  Roasting brings out the natural sweet flavor, and it makes a yummy side to a ham or roast.

Roasted Root Vegetables

2 turnips
3 parsnips
7-8 small red potatoes
4-5 large carrots
1 large onion
4 tablespoons butter, melted
4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon chicken base
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425º.  Mix butter, oil, thyme, chicken base, garlic and salt.  Cut up all the vegetables into small chunks.  Put the vegetables into a large roasting pan.  Pour oil mixture over veggies and toss to coat.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put in the oven for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil, stir, and turn the temperature down to 350º.  Roast for an additional 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from oven and serve hot!

Gumbo

A few years ago, a friend and I were traveling, and we spent a night in Shreveport, Louisiana.  We stayed with some very hospitable folks, and they served us some of the most delicious food I had ever eaten.  Gumbo and rice for supper, biscuits and jam and spicy sausages for breakfast. 

The memory of that food has stayed with me all these years, and about a month ago, I got a hankering for gumbo again.  I looked up several different recipes, then came up with my own.  I'm not sure if this is traditional Cajun gumbo or not, but I do know that it is delicious and is sure to become a regular meal in our household!  It does take a little more time than a lot of recipes (2 1/2 to 3 hours), but it is well worth it!

The foundation of a lot of Cajun cooking is a brown 'roux', used in gumbos, dirty rice, and other recipes.  A roux is a mixture of equal parts flour and fat, cooked slowly until the desired color is achieved.  Lighter shades of roux are used in French cooking and are used for thickening, but Cajun cooking uses a dark brown roux, which is used more for adding flavor.  Brown roux has the most wonderful aroma when it is cooking!  You can read more about roux at this page : http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/All-About-Roux/Detail.aspx

Gumbo

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 pound smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup flour
5 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
5-8 cloves garlic, minced
4-8 green onions, sliced
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
4 cups hot chicken broth
1 can (14 oz) stewed tomatoes with juice, cut into small pieces
2 cups frozen sliced okra
1/2 pound small shrimp, peeled deveined and cooked (optional)
Louisiana hot sauce, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

     Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Add the chicken and sausage and cook until all the chicken is white.  Remove the meat and set aside.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter with the oil, and add flour, stirring constantly.  Cook over medium heat, stirring very often for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a rich brown.  Be careful not to burn the roux.  When it is brown, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

    Meanwhile, chop all the vegetables and herbs.  Return the dutch oven to medium heat and melt the remaining 3 tablespoons butter with the roux.  Add onion, green onion, garlic, green pepper and celery.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add Worchestershire sauce and parsley.  Cook for another 10 minutes.  Slowly add the hot chicken broth, whisking constantly.  Add the meat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.  Add tomatoes and okra.  Add hot sauce if desired, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for another hour.  Just before serving add the shrimp.  Serve over hot rice.



I didn't use shrimp this time, since I was serving it to my grandma, and she's not crazy about seafood. :) I usually give it a good couple shakes of hot sauce, and that is still pretty mild. I have also used gumbo filé in this, but I didn't have any this time either. I hope you all enjoy! This is a wonderful meal for a chilly day!

Sugared Pecans



My memories of my grandma's place always include pecans. She had a large pecan tree in her backyard, and as a kid, I used to help rake the leaves or pick the nuts off the ground.  And it seemed like she always had a jar of sugared pecans on her table.  They were a very special treat after working hard in the backyard.  It's been years since she lived at that place, and she's no longer able to make sugared pecans.  But I'd like to keep the tradition alive, and hopefully I can make some people happy with this yummy treat!

Sugared Pecans

1 pound pecan halves

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water (you can substitute some vanilla if you like)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional

Beat the egg white and water until frothy.  Add pecans to the bowl and stir until all the nuts are well coated.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon and salt if wanted.  Slowly pour the sugar mixture over the pecans, stirring to coat.  Line a baking pan with aluminum foil.  Spread the pecans in a single layer on the baking pan.  Bake at 275º for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so.  Remove from oven and let cool.  They should have a sweet crispy shell.

I have to warn you all though...these can be addicting!  It might be a good idea to give some to a friend as a gift so you don't eat them all yourself! :)

Easy Chicken Soup

With our busy schedule around here lately, I haven't been doing too much fancy cooking. :S  In fact, a couple days ago, while I was driving home from being gone all day, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a rotisserie chicken.  I sometimes do that when I'm in a pinch because I think they are a little healthier (maybe) than alot of fast food places, and they go a little further.  As I discovered this time, the bones also make excellent soup!

Usually, after a meal of rotisserie chicken, I stick the bird in the fridge and we eat cold chicken off of it for a couple of days.  But one of my pet peeves is picking a cold chicken.  It is just so much easier to do it while it's warm.  Lately, every time I bake a chicken, turkey, etc, I try to boil the bones and make stock for future soup making.  So this time, I boiled the bones...and all the meat left on them after one meal.  It turned out to be some of the best chicken noodle soup I have made!

Easy Chicken Soup

1 leftover rotisserie chicken, with meat left on it

1 quart chicken broth

water

2 cups carrots, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

noodles of your choice ( I used egg noodles)

Place chicken in a large stockpot.  Be sure to add the jelly-like stuff on the bottom of the container...that's the good stuff!  You may want to break the ribs apart a little. Pour chicken broth over it, and add enough water to cover the bones.  Simmer for at least 1/2 to 1 hour. (The longer the better!)  This is a good time to chop up the vegetables.  When the meat is done simmering, remove the meat and bones from the broth, leaving the broth in the stockpot.  Add the vegetables to the broth and bring to a boil.  Let the chicken sit until it is just cool enough to handle.  Pick all the meat off the bones, and discard the bones.  Add the meat to the soup.  When the vegetables are starting to get tender, add a couple handfuls of noodles.  Continue boiling until the noodles are soft.  Enjoy your soup!

Note:  You shouldn't have to add any salt or other seasonings, because rotisserie chickens are already very salty and well seasoned!

Carrot Soufflé

Here is the recipe I promised y'all!  Sorry it took me so long to get it posted...there is a reason for that.  Sweet potatoes are on sale for 16¢ a pound so I stocked up and bought over 20 pounds.  I figured I would cook them and then freeze them so we could enjoy them for a while!  So yesterday I washed them and pricked them and rolled them in aluminum foil to bake.  If any of you have baked sweet potatoes, you know what a mess they can make in your oven!  So...I had to scrub out my oven before I could bake my carrot soufflé!

This is a recipe that one of my friends used to bring to our Sunday potlucks often.  When she moved away, I made sure that I had the recipe!  Now I bring it to potlucks every once in a while and it has become a Thanksgiving tradition.  There have been a few people that haven't tasted it because they thought they wouldn't like it.  But I have yet to meet a person that has tried it that hasn't loved it!  Even people who don't like carrots...or vegetables of any kind for that matter, love this.  It's sweet and yummy and is flavored with cinnamon.  So if you want a lot of compliments this Thanksgiving, bake up this little treat!

Carrot Soufflé

1 16 ounce package baby carrots

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Boil carrots in water for 20 -24 minutes or until they are tender.  Drain well and cool.  Process carrots and eggs in blender until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and process again until well mixed and smooth.  Pour into a greased 8 inch by 8 inch baking dish.  Bake at 350º for 55 to 60 minutes or until set in the middle.  The soufflé should rise in the oven, but it will fall within minutes of taking it out.

I generally serve this warm with chicken or turkey, but it's also great with other meals and even good cold!  I hope you enjoy!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Old Fashioned Molasses Taffy

I have read books and heard stories about old-fashioned taffy pulling parties.  Folks used to get together on a winter night and make molasses taffy.  It was quite an occasion for the young people, because they got to pull taffy with their sweethearts. :)  The teens used to try to make the fanciest designs and sometimes even their initials with the taffy.

Last night I was trying to think of something fun to do, and remembered the stories about pulling taffy.  So I thought we would try it!  I found some salt water taffy recipes, but I wanted to make the old fashioned molasses kind.  I also wanted it to be a little more flavorful than just plain molasses so I added some spices.  The way this recipe turned out, it tastes a bit like a ginger molasses cookie.  Delicious!  And also very sweet and sticky! :)

You will want at least a couple people there to pull the taffy.  The more the merrier!  This is great for older kids and adults, but the taffy gets kind of hard for little tykes to pull after a while!  This would be great fun for a party!

Old Fashioned Molasses Taffy

2 cups sugar

1 cup molasses

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons white vinegar

3/4 teaspoon ginger (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

First, lightly grease a baking sheet, or pan.  Make sure it has edges on it.  Set it aside.  Mix first 4 ingredients, plus spices if wanted, in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil.  Continue to boil and use a candy thermometer to bring the mixture up to about 260º F, the hard ball stage.  If you drop a bit of the candy into a glass of cold water, it should form a hard ball that isn't easily squishable.

  Remove from the heat and stir in butter and baking soda.  This will make the candy bubble up and lighten in color.  Pour the candy onto the prepared pan.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes or so, or until you can touch it without being burned.  As soon as it is cool enough to touch, divide the taffy so everybody gets a chunk, and pull away!  You might want to butter your fingers so it doesn't get so sticky! You'll want to keep stretching it out and folding it back on itself for about 15 to 20 minutes.  When the taffy gets stiff and harder to pull, make a rope and cut it into bite sized pieces.  Wrap each piece with wax paper.  Now you have a bunch of great candy to eat (if you've got a real sweet tooth), or to share with others!

I didn't get pictures of it because my hands were all sticky, but when you are pulling the taffy, it looks like spun gold.  It's such a beautiful metalic looking color, but once you stop pulling it just turns brown again.  Try it out and see for yourself!  Make some memories with your family or friends! :)



Apricot Mandarin Chicken

Here's a warm comforting recipe for a chilly day!  This is a great recipe for when you need a quick meal.  I usually have all these ingredients on hand in my freezer or pantry, so this meal only takes about half an hour or less to make.  It's great served over white rice, but I opted for healthier brown rice this time.

Apricot Mandarin Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2-4 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon oil

Sauce:
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup apricot jam or preserves
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey

1 or 2 cans mandarin oranges

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together.  Rinse, trim, and chunk chicken breasts, and dredge in flour mixture.  Brown in oil in a large frying pan. Meanwhile, mix the sauce ingredients together, withholding the oranges.  Pour over chicken and bring to a boil.  Continue cooking for 5 to 8 minutes, until chicken juices run clear and sauce is thickened.  Add oranges and heat through.  Serve over hot rice.

I like the oranges, so I usually add two cans.  Sometimes I am tempted to double the sauce recipe because it is so yummy!  I hope y'all enjoy!

Pecan Pumpkin Bars

Fall is definitely here.  We finally had a chilly night last night, and I had to dig in to my cool weather clothes!  I know y'all up north already got snow, but cold weather down here is something to get excited about...at least for me! :)

We took Chance to a pumpkin patch last night to let him pick out a pumpkin.  The patch wasn't too exciting, just a bunch of pumpkins tossed out on a hay strewn lawn, but it was the closest thing we had.  He couldn't make up his mind, so we ended up with three pumpkins that I am going to process and freeze for future use. 

Like making these little treats...

Like I said last week, Chance found a recipe for an old fashioned pumpkin pie in a magazine and wanted to make it.  (He is already reading cookbooks, etc..."Mmm, this looks good!", "This is making me hungry!", "Mommy, I want to make this!")  So we ended up making a pumpkin pie, and had extra filling.  I created these yummy pecan pumpkin bars that are kind of a combination of pumpkin pie and pecan pie.  These would be great to bring to a fall get-together!

Pecan Pumpkin Bars

Crust:

 2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar

Filling:

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup millk
1/2 cup cream

Topping:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter


Mix crust ingredients together. Press into an ungreased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven. Mix eggs, sugar, molasses, and pumpkin together. In a seperate bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add to the pumpkin mixture. Add milk and cream. Pour over crust. Mix together topping ingredients. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, or until mixture has set.  It is normal for the topping to bubble up, and it will set back down when it cools.

These are really yummy when they are still warm from the oven!  And they are good cold too. :)  I keep them in the fridge, because they are made with eggs.  I hope you enjoy them!  Happy fall!