Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tutorial: Working with Yeast

This is an awesome Tutorial about working with yeast from My Kitchen Cafe. More for me to reference back to. But, I know that anybody that reads this will benefit from it!

CLICK HERE

Monday, November 23, 2009

Crockpot Homemade Cranberry Sauce

This is from the Crockpot Lady! I made it last year for Thanksgiving and it was fabulous! Enjoy!

Ingredients:


--12 oz cranberries (fresh or frozen)

--1/2 cup orange juice
--1/2 cup water
--1/2 cup brown sugar
--1/2 cup white sugar
--1/4 tsp cinnamon

The Directions:

I used a 1.5 quart crockpot. It worked well for this recipe. If you only have a huge crockpot, you can put an oven-safe dish into it to create a smaller cooking vessel.

Rinse off the cranberries and put them into your crockpot. Add the orange juice and water. I had the kids squeeze fresh juice, but you can use store-bought if that's what you have on hand.

Add the sugar and the cinnamon. Stir. There will be an awful lot of liquid, and the cranberries will float and you'll wonder how on earth it could possibly turn into cranberry sauce.

Cover and cook on high. It will take about 3 hours.

Stir every hour or so. When the skin from the cranberries has softened, the cranberries will "pop" when pushed with a spoon up against the side of the crock. It wasn't until about 2 hours in that my cranberries were soft enough to do this.

Smoosh
all of the cranberries. Stir well.

Heat enough for it to be warm throughout. Take the lid off and heat on high for another 30 to 45 minutes. Your house will smell wonderful!

Serve. This easily can be made a few days before your holiday dinner.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Glazed Carrots

Carrots are cooked with brown sugar and butter, resulting in a sweet, flavorful brown sugar glaze.

Ingredients:

  • 16 ounces baby carrots
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup water
  • dash salt
  • pepper, to taste

Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, combine the baby carrots with remaining ingredients. Stir to blend ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling (uncovered) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until carrots are tender and the liquid has evaporated.
Serves 4 to 6.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Spinach and Chicken Pasta with Teriyaki Vinaigrette

This recipe came from My Kitchen Cafe! It was very filling and everyone loved it!

Dressing:

1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup bottled teriyaki sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup cider vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Salad:

16 oz. bow tie pasta, cooked al dente, drained and cooled
1 bag fresh spinach (9 - 10 oz)
6 oz. craisins
2 (11 oz.) cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained and slivered
4 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
6 oz. honey roasted peanuts
2 cups cooked chicken, tossed with 2-3 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

In a blender, combine all the dressing ingredients and blend until well combined and smooth. Mix about 1 cup of the dressing with the cooked pasta in a large bowl and marinate for at least one hour. Combine the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl. Just before serving, add pasta and toss. Add dressing to taste and toss. Serve immediately.

Portuguese Sweet Rolls

These are super easy and SUPER YUMMY! I got these from www.controllingmychaos.com!

1 C Milk
2 Eggs
2 T Butter
1/2 C Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
3 C Bread Flour
2 1/2 tsp Yeast

Combine milk and butter on a small sauce pan on the stove top. Right when the milk is the temperature that it has melted the butter remove from stove top and put in your bread maker or Kitchen Aid. When you can put your finger in the milk and it is a comfortable temperature add the rest of the ingredients, holding 1/2 C of the flour aside and starter your breadmaker or mixer. Once well mixed and starting to knead, add the remaining flour, and up to 1/2 C of additional flour if the dough seems too sticky. Once it is smooth and elastic, leave to complete the cycle. In the mixer, I let it knead for about 10 minutes. When the cycle is complete, pull 1/2 C sized pieces off at a time, roll them into six-inch ropes, and tie in knots. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place for one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake rolls approximately 12 minutes, until they are light golden brown.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Lisa's Chicken Salad Sandwich

Lisa served this at a little get together at her house the other night! It was fabulous! I love myself a Chicken Salad Sandwich!

4 c chicken, cubed
3/4 c mayo
1/2-3/4 c sour cream depending on how saucy you want it)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 c diced celery
3 green onions, diced
1 c chopped pecans
1 1/2 c craisins
1 c diced apple

Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, paprika, and seasoning salt. Add remaining ingredients and allow to sit in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors have time to combine. You can also wait and add the pecans right before serving so they have more crunch.

Serve on a roll or croissant!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Popcorn Balls

2 quarts pooped popcorn
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup dark corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place popcorn in a large bowl; set aside. In a heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, corn syrup, butter and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue cooking, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 270 degree (soft-crack stage).

Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Pour over popcorn; stir until evenly coated. When cool enough to handle, quickly shape into balls. Yield: 6 servings.

Broccoli Salad


One of my families favorite side salads is a good ol' Broccoli Salad.  A month or so ago I made a Broccoli Salad and posted a picture of it on my Instragram account and I was surprised at how many people seemed not to be familiar with this salad!  This salad is so good, that sometimes I just make a batch and eat off it for the week!  So, I thought I would share the recipe with you all today!


Start out by making the sauce!  Mix 1 cup mayo, 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons white vinegar!  It will look almost glazy!


Then it's onto the salad - Broccoli, Mandarin Oranges, Red Onion, Bacon, Raisins and Slivered Almonds!


I like my broccoli chopped pretty small - makes it much easier for eating!

Measure approx 8 cups of chopped broccoli in a bowl!


Then add all the side ingredients - I personally don't measure.  But, here are some measurements you can go with:  1 can mandarin oranges, 1/2 cup chopped red onion, 6 to 8 crumbled bacon strips (or buy the little bags at the store), 1/2 cup raisins (I prefer golden raisins).  Feel free to add another ingredient or remove one you don't like.  Not everybody likes the same things.  My mother usually doesn't put mandarin oranges in hers.

 Mix it all up!

Add the sauce and ENJOY!
Here is the recipe:


Sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons white vinegar
Salad:
8 cups broccoli florets 1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained 1/2 cup chopped red onion 6 to 8 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (or you can buy the little bags of them all ready crumbled) 1/2 cup raisins (I prefer golden Raisens)
Slivered Almonds (optional)
In a small bowl, whisk mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours. In a large bowl, combine broccoli, oranges, onion, bacon and raisins. Add dressing and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Orange Punch

1 gallon orange sherbet, softened
1 quart pineapple juice, chilled
1 liter lemon-lime soda, chilled

Combine sherbet and pineapple juice in punch bowl and stir well. Add soda; stir until sherbet is almost dissolved. Yield: 20 (1-cup) servings.

Orange-Banana Smoothie

I actually got this out of my Halloween Taste of Home Recipe book. They call it Boo Beverage and have a little ghost whipped topping to make it fit the holiday. But, it is seriously so good and there is no reason you couldn't enjoy this year around!

2 cups orange juice
2 cups milk
4 cups orange sherbet (2 pints)
4 medium ripe bananas
whipped topping (optional)

In two batches, process the orange juice, milk, sherbet and bananas in blender until smooth! Pour into a glass and throw a spoon full of whipped topping on if preferred! Enjoy! Yield: 6 Servings