Wednesday, August 14, 2013

On Oatmeal Cookies

The weather is beautiful here today 
and it made me feel
sunshiny and happy
Like an
Oatmeal Cookie. 

So I made some! 

Sunshine Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 375. 

Mix:
1/2 cup of salted butter (softened at room temperature)
1/4  cup of brown sugar
1/2  cup of granulated sugar (I use unbleached)
When light and fluffy add:
1 egg yolk
1 Tablespoon of local honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup rolled or old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
ground cinnamon (I like it so used about 1 teaspoon but you can use less if you want)
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
*You can also add raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips at this point!

Divide dough into balls and drop onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown and slightly firm. 
I cooled on a wire rack.






Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Peaches & Cream Pie

Johnson County, Arkansas has the best peaches in the world (in my humble opinion...)
So, we made the drive to get a car full last week!

I made a pie based on my sweet mother-in-law's crustless pie recipe, but 
changed it a bit to accomodate a crust (which I love) and extra peaches (which I needed to use)
and I also wanted it to be a bit creamy, similar to a peach pie I like to make.

Here is what I came up with...


Peaches & Cream Pie

6-8 peaches (more or less is ok)
1 cup sugar 
1/2 cup flour 
3 large eggs, beaten
3 Tablespoons of butter
3 Tablespoons of Cream Cheese
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Pie crust (homemade or store bought)

  • Roll out pie crust and place in pie tin. 
  • With mixer beat butter and cream cheese til softened. 
  • Add sugar to mixing bowl and beat til incorporated.
  • Add eggs, flour, and vanilla. 
  • In pie crust place sliced and peeled peaches in rows.  I like to take one peach and spread it out on one 1/8 section of the pie and keep going until I get a nice look.  
  • Slowly pour mixture over peaches in pie crust to fill crust.  
  • Bake at 375 or 400 until set and crust is a nice golden brown.  Should not be "jiggly" when cooked. 
  • Cool and serve! 


Monday, July 22, 2013

Papaya Love

When we can get fresh (good) papaya I go a bit nuts.
I think I'm eating two papayas a week
mainly making these yummies...

Papaya Smoothies

Chopped papaya (I usually use about 1-2 cups of papaya)
Ice Cubes (also 1-2 cups)
Milk (just enough to cover ice and papaya)
Vanilla
Cinnamon
(and sometimes I add a bit of honey if papaya's not really sweet)
AND
Sometimes I'll add a Tablespoon or two of Greek Yogurt

Blend until good and frothy!


Wednesday, July 3, 2013

On Cookie Transport

The boys went to the lake this past weekend 
and I thought of a new way 
to carry cookies!

1.  Make cookies!  (These were Snickerdoodles, a good traveling cookie.)

2.  Cut two strips of waxed paper, criss-cross and tape. (measure around outside of a clean "Pringle chip" type can and add 3-4" to determine length of strips.)

3.  Place strips in can with cross near top of can. 

4.  Hold ends of strips and start stacking cookies!  You will slowly lower them into the can as you add cookies. 

The boys report that the cookies traveled without breaking and stayed fresh!  Great for fishing or camping trips! 


Monday, May 6, 2013

Momma's Brownies

For the Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale this past weekend
my momma was kind enough 
(as she always is)
to make me some brownies!  
(Thanks mom!)

Now my momma's brownies are by far the best brownies around.
(And I might fight ya if you say otherwise!)
She uses the recipe from the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book (one of the best cookbooks I own BTW)
and I'm not sure why but even when I follow the same recipe mine are not quite as delectable.
(She must do something secret I'm not aware of...)

Here is that recipe:

Brownies from the Betty Crocker's Cooky Book 
4 squares of unsweetened chocolate (4 oz)
2/3 cup of shortening
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350.
Grease a 13" x 9" x 2" pan.
Melt chocolate and shortening over low heat.
Beat in sugar and eggs.
Blend flour, baking powder, and salt and stir in.
Mix in nuts.
Spread in pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
Cut into bars!
Mom's Brownies on Display!


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Some Southern Comfort

Biscuits with Honey and Petit Jean Bacon

It's been said that I can make a mean biscuit...
Making biscuits is one of those things that isn't hard, 
but that people tend to overthink and overwork. 
Some secrets? 
REAL SALTED BUTTER
ACAST IRON SKILLET
HOT OVEN



The recipe I use is one based on a recipe taken from 
the BHG- New Cook Book. 
 
I modified it a bit (doubling and a few other small changes)
but it's basically the same recipe. 

BISCUITS
Makes about 10-12 large biscuits
4 cups of organic unbleached flour
2 Tablespoons of Baking Powder
4 Tablespoons of sugar (unbleached granulated)
1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of butter (you can also use a combo of butter and coconut oil to equal 1 cup.)
1 1/3 cup of organic milk (possibly more depending on humidity.)
  • Preheat oven to 450.
  • Put about a tablespoon or two of oil in skillet and place in oven.
  • In bowl stir together dry ingredients
  • Cut in shortening with pastry cutter or hands until it resembles coarse crumbs (or peas.)
  • Add milk and stir until dough just clings together.  You may have to add more if dough is too dry.  You want it to be moist but not mushy.
  • On floured surface, knead dough GENTLY for 10 strokes.  
  • Pat into a rectangle shape gently and then roll to about 1/2 inch thickness.
  • Fold in half and repeat twice. 
  • Dip a glass in flour and cut into biscuits. 
 
  • Transfer to hot skillet and bake about 12 minutes or until golden brown.




Thursday, November 1, 2012

Pumpkin Muffins

For Halloween I wanted to try a pumpkin muffin.

Now, muffins are something of a hit and miss at my house.
None of the five of us like the same kind so usually the chickens end up
with a few.
Not with this recipe!


Cinnamon-Sugar Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice or apple-pie spice (I like Penzey's)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup molasses (or more to taste) 
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 large fresh eggs

1/4 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon (to sprinkle on tops)

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line muffin tins with papers.
Mix dry ingredients together in bowl.
Mix pumpkin and rest of wet ingredients together in another bowl.
Combine both mixtures and mix until just incorporated.
Fill muffin pan with batter (I use a small ladle to fill cups)
Sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar.
Bake until puffy and until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into middle of a muffin,
which is about 25 minutes or so.
Cool in pan until you can touch and then take out and cool on rack or countertop.


Friday, September 21, 2012

On Food Blog Fun


What do you get when you put a bunch 
of Arkansas food bloggers in one room for a day?

Four pictures of panelists at AWBU Foodie Friday
Great Information,
Women cooking
Healthy Competition,
Goat cheese spread, Tomato fruit salsa, white bean hummus with tapanade
Great food,
  Cool Swag,

And LOTS of Laughs! 
Whitney & Our little friend

Alison, eating a tomato and sporting the cool aprons they gave us!

Thank you to the great ladies of AR Women Bloggers for setting up Foodie Friday!
Also a big thank you to the sponsors, epecially:
  • Ziploc (for the great goodie bag especially the wonderful VersaGlass!)
  • Petit Jean Meats (I don't eat pork but my kids will only eat PJ bacon! Did you know they do gift boxes and can even ship a complete Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner?  Also great coffee cake!)
  • Yarnell's Ice Cream (Yes, it's back!)  How about this fun picture Whitney took on our way home?
Thank you from- Alison, Sarabeth, Me, and Whitney!




  • Friday, May 18, 2012

    DNA cookies

    My daughter wanted me to make cookies for her biology class party and this is what we came up with...
    DNA Cookies

    I used this same recipe for sugar cookies.  (I used unbleached cane sugar instead of white sugar in the cookies.)  I ended up making royal icing because I was afraid a regular soft icing would not last in the heat and transport.  Hope they like them!

    Saturday, February 4, 2012

    On sweet goodness


    I made up a recipe for sweet rolls today because my impatient husband and son wanted sweet rolls "NOW!"  I didn't want to make the short cut recipe I usually do when we want sweet rolls quickly- so I improvised by using the ratios I use on my pizza crust.  They ended up being better than almost all the other recipes we usually use!   After breakfast I had 4 left out of a pan of 15...
    (It also made a small pan with 6 small ones in it that I'll freeze.)

    The results.....

    What I did:

    Sweet Cinnamon Rolls with Orange Vanilla Glaze

    5 cups flour
    add 1/2 stick of butter (melted) and put in mixer with dough hook
    On stove warm 2 cups milk
    (You want it to be warm, but cool enough to stick your finger in and not be burned if you count to 10)
    To this add 3 1/4 teaspoons of yeast and about 1/4 cup of sugar (I use Mexican cane sugar instead of white sugar in everything.)
    In a small cup beat 2 eggs
    Add milk mixture and eggs to flour mixture and blend. 
    If dough is really sticky add enough flour to make it still moist but where you can touch it and
    not have sticky fingers (it's okay if it's more on the sticky side now because you can add flour later when your knead.)
    Let rise about 15 minutes (would be better to let rise til double, but we are impatient.)
    Knead dough on floured surface.  Add flour to make a nice dough if it's sticky.  Knead until you have a pretty, soft dough. 
    Roll out into a large rectangle (about 18 x 20)
    Brush with melted butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (you can add nuts or chocolate chips or raisins if you want to.)
    Roll up from long side pressing as you go. 
    Cut into about 1 inch pieces and place cut side down in a greased baking dish.
    Let rise at least another 15 minutes (or ideally until doubled.)
    Bake at 350 until light golden brown. 
    Pour or brush glaze over rolls while warm.

    Glaze
    About 1/4 cup of melted butter (more or less)
    Add powdered sugar (1-2 cups, again more or less)
    thin with orange juice and add about 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

    Wednesday, January 4, 2012

    Green Tomato Goodness

    In November, before the first frost hit us, 
    Mom decided we should pick all the peppers and tomatoes we could from her beautiful garden. 
    She has a beautiful garden, and I didn't realize how many she was talking about until I went to help her pick!
    One of many trays...
    There must have been four large baskets of tomatoes and probably two full trays like this.  As for peppers we couldn't even pick them all- habaneros, hot Chinese, jalapenos, and more.
    We scoured the internet for recipes for green tomatoes and peppers, and ended up mostly just winging it anyway...
    Pickled (Dill) Green Tomatoes!
    For the pickles we just followed a basic pickle formula (with regular vinegar, not cider) and then added fresh dill, some hot peppers, garlic, peppercorns and sliced green tomatoes then processed them.
    Upside Down Pepperoncini!
     She had enough banana peppers to make about five or six jars of pepperoncini (our fave.)  We just pickled these too (with no dill.)

    Green Tomato Salsa!
    We had so many tomatoes left over and wanted to make a salsa of some kind.  Our favorite salsa is Herdez Tomatillo/Green salsa and we thought, "Why not make a green tomato salsa?"  We only made about three jars of this and it came out so yummy!  Basically it was chopped green tomatoes, jalapenos, chopped onion and garlic, cilantro, a bit of cumin and salt, some lime juice and touch of vinegar and then we cooked it.  I should have written the recipe down!

    Our Green Bounty
    Our next day we made THE HOTTEST pepper jelly from basically all habanero (aji chombo) peppers and a few jalapenos and Cayenne peppers.  We had to cook it outside on the grill because it was so hot, then processed it inside.  It came out a beautiful golden color with red and green flecks. I just used the pepper jelly recipe on the pectin package.  I swear it's the hottest goodness you have ever tasted. 

     Mom still had a ton of peppers at her house so she made aji chombo sauce (Panamanian hot sauce) basically just aji chombo (habanero) peppers chopped up, vinegar, mustard, chopped garlic, chopped onion, and salt and pepper put into a bottle to sit in the fridge.  Very, very, hot so be wary.










    Tuesday, December 6, 2011

    Nutty Cupcakes

    Nutcracker is in full swing this week.   
    Performances are this weekend (10th and 11th.)
    We had the cast party for Ballet Arkansas and the kids this past Saturday.
     Mom, Emily and I made 11 dozen cupcakes!  
    Set up in Studio (can't see the royal mice very well but they are peeking out!)
    Snowflakes and Flowers
       We tried to do something from each scene in the Nutcracker.  Ended up with Gumdrops for Land of Sweets, Flowers, Snow, Dragon (from Chinese Tea because Max is in the dragon this year,) Soldiers, and some fondant mice and royal mice.

    Fondant Snowflakes with Sprinkle Snow

    Fondant Flowers with Sugar snow

    Soldiers, Nutcracker, Flowers, Dragon

    Dragon's Head (by Emily)

    Soldier with Blue Disco Dust



    Wednesday, July 27, 2011

    Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo with White Rice on the Food Network

    I made this recipe last night with some okra and peppers from my mom's garden.
    *The recipe doesn't call for okra, but I like it and had it. Also I am allergic to celery and left
    that out.   The sausage I used was a turkey andouille.  I short-cutted and used a rotisserie chicken to save a bit of time. Was delicious!
    Sorry, no picture...

    Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo with White Rice on the Food Network

    My first attempt at gumbo and not the last!

    Monday, July 11, 2011

    Homemade Marinara

    Some good friends of mine have a tomato farm and raise phenomenal heirloom tomatoes.  
    They were cleaning out their hothouses and gave me some of the spoils...
    Yay!

    I peeled and seeded the tomatoes last night and made some homemade marinara sauce.

    To peel tomatoes:
    1. Bring a big pot of water to a boil
    2. Have a bowl of ice water handy.
    3. Drop tomatoes in boiling water for about 10 seconds, then plunge in the ice water. 
    4. Take core out with paring knife and then slip off skins.  
    5. Slice tomatoes in half and squeeze out seeds (or just slide them out with your finger, I don't mind some seeds.
    For Sauce:
    1. Slice a few onions very thin.  (I used two onions for the amount of tomatoes I had, maybe 15 lbs?)
    2. Sautee onions and garlic (I used 5 cloves) in olive oil until translucent. 
    3. Add chopped fresh basil, oregano, pepper, bayleaf (whatever spices you will use.)
    4. Chop tomatoes in blender or food processor and add to pot.  I save some and chop them to add texture. 
    5. Cook and add red wine, salt, pepper to taste.
    *Mine was still runny after cooking last night so I think I'll let it cook down more today and then taste again for spices.
    Will be good on some homemade pasta!

    Wednesday, June 22, 2011

    Ready for Rigatoni?

    Emily Making Rigatoni with Our New Pasta Machine!

    Raw Rigatoni!

    Ready for Sauce! 
    Homemade Pasta
    This is supposed to make 6 servings, but I tripled it for my family and ended up with leftovers.  
    I could have doubled it and we'd have been fine. 

    1 lb. (16 oz) of flour
    4 eggs

    Put flour in bowl and make a well.
    Add eggs to well and with a fork mix and stir as much as possible.  
    Using hands mix and knead dough until smooth and pliable.  Dough should NOT be sticky.  If it is too dry add a bit of water.  If it's too wet add more flour.  Again, you don't want it sticky or it will be a pain to work with (especially if you are using a pasta machine.)  I'd gotten this one at Williams & Sonoma today with a gift certificate I'd gotten awhile back.  It was down to $20 from $80 and makes 
    Rigatoni, 2 sizes of macaroni, Fusilli, and Bucatini (hollow spaghetti type pasta!) 
    It worked great.  I have a normal pasta maker I use mainly for making fondant bows for wedding cakes, that we also use for fettucinni and making pasta for ravioli or lasagna.

    Monday, April 25, 2011

    Easter Sugar Cookies

    Sugar Cookies we made for Easter
     For Easter we made some sugar cookies to take to my in-laws.  I used a cookie recipe my daughter found for me online, from AllRecipes, which really worked well.  I cooked them a little too long on a few of the batches (see the dark edges?)
    I had some fondant from a past project, and rolled it out and cut it to go on the cookies, then we dusted some with sparkly sugar (natural food colorings.)  Came out pretty cute (cuter than my bad pictures...)  I had some that looked like bunnies and those were really cute but the kids ate them before I got a picture!
    Who said Brown Eggs Can't be Pretty?

    Monday, April 18, 2011

    Doggie Risotto

    I like to make my own doggy food. 
    Why?
      My dog is quite large due to his bad habit of swiping the kids food when they aren't looking,
      and
      food for fat pups is quite expensive.
      and
      I know what is in it and can modify it according to his needs (ie Low-Fat)

    What I end up doing when I can is something like the recipe below...
    (You can use whatever you have in your fridge or freezer, or meat that you get on sale at the grocery store also and it works great.)


     Doggie Risotto
    1. Cook 2-3 cups of rice according to directions.  (I normally use brown rice but had some risotto/arborio that needed to be gone from my cupboards.) 
    2. Brown meat in large pot.  (I used 5 lbs of turkey meat that I got on sale.  Also added some cutlets that I had in the freezer that had slight freezer burn.)
    3. To cooked meat add a bag or so of frozen veggies or odds and ends of veggies from fridge you need to get rid of.  (I like to use the pea/carrot/bean/corn mix that comes frozen in a bag when it's on sale for about $1.)
    4. Mix the cooked rice to the meat mixture and stir.  
    5. At this point if you need to add a little water to make it sticky do so, or you can add broth.  (I actually used a jar of turkey gravy that I didn't want to eat.) 
    6. Stir and cool.  
    7. Store in fridge and serve OR make into patties and freeze.  
    My dog LOVES this recipe and it's much healthier than the dog food I normally buy.  (Have you READ the labels on the dog food cans and bags?)

    Friday, March 4, 2011

    Indiana Jones Cupcakes


    Here were the cupcakes from my 6 yr old's birthday in December (yes, I am very behind!)

    maps, crystal skull, hats, whips, snakes...

    The Crystal Skull

    More hats, snakes, coins, flowers for the girls

    He wanted Indiana Jones (of course) so we all pitched in to make little fondant toppers.   The hats and whips (all brown things) we made from warming Tootsie Rolls in the microwave for about 6 seconds  then shaping.  The rest was regular fondant that we painted with petal dust or food markers.   The cake was just Devil's Food with chocolate buttercream icing.  I sprinkled crushed Oreos on top to make "dirt."
    It was fun and I think they came out really cute!

    Sunday, January 9, 2011

    Resolutions

    I have made a resolution to myself to be mindful of eating out and plan meals better. We ate out WAY too much last year because of poor planning and a busy schedule.  This year we have only eaten out ONE TIME so far!  I'm very excited!


    We put a dry erase board calendar up in the kitchen and I put a tentative menu on it.  If anyone has suggestions or disagrees we can change them before I hit the grocery store.  I make the plan and go through my coupons before shopping.  I don't plan my menu to the coupons unless I have some REALLY good ones (not usually.)

    Does anyone have any meal planning tips or ideas to share?

    Tuesday, December 28, 2010

    ¡Patacones!


    Patacones are what we call them in Panama.  In some places (Puerto Rico for example) they call them tostones.  
    Nothing brings back memories like a good plate of patacones.
    Yummy grilled chicken and patacones on the beach... 
    I remember saving my money to ride my bike to the KC (Knights of Columbus) in Margarita to get a hamburger and patacones.  Later I found their sancocho was the bomb and had that and patacones instead.  

    We have always had problems in Arkansas finding good green platanos (plantains.)  Usually the stores have them, but they are maduros (ripe) and I despise ripe plantains.  (I know, most people love them.)  When mom moved to Puerto Rico she discovered the island secret of using green bananas, which are much cheaper in PR (and Arkansas.)  So, now I use green bananas if I can't find good platanos.  They really taste almost the same if they are very green although maybe a little silkier in texture.  They are easier to peel and cheaper. 

    Patacones

    • Peel plantains or green bananas.  You have to do this quickly and right before frying or they turn black.  Be careful as they will also turn your fingers black if you don't wash right away! 

    Score on several sides and peel skin off

    Cut into thumb sized pieces

    Fry one time and drain

    Put between waxed paper or brown paper and squash!

    Fry again til golden

    Drain and salt!

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