Panettone

Italian Christmas Bread!
This is my adjusted recipe, which makes a moister bread than the ones you may have bought at stores!
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 stick butter, softened to room temp.
2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 eggs and 2 egg yolks (fresh eggs!)
1/2 cup candied orange peel, chopped small
1/2 cup dark raisins
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
5 1/2 cups flour

( Save 3- 1 pound size- tin coffee cans to bake 3 breads. OR you may bake in mini loaf pans to give as gifts, or 2 regular loaf pans)
Heat the milk in saucepan, add the sugar and butter. Remove from heat and let come to lukewarm. Stir.
In mixing bowl add yeast to the warm water, to dissolve. Add the milk mixture, the eggs, orange peel, lemon peel and raisins. Add 2 cups flour. Stir well. Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time. Knead dough until smooth and slightly elastic. Will be a bit sticky. Knead for 15 minutes. Plop out into a large buttered bowl. Cover with plastic. Allow to rise, in a warmish spot, until doubled in size. After rise, place dough onto floured surface. Divide into 2 pieces. OR -- how ever many loaves you intend to bake. Shape and place into greased pans. Allow to rise, covered again about 1 hour. Bake in hot oven, which has been set at 350 degrees. Bake until golden brown, depending on loaf size, about 40 minutes.

Chunky Noah Shortbread Cookies

Noah Shortbread Cookies
Delish~!

1 cup butter, room temp.

1/2 cup sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecans, chopped and lightly toasted in oven

Mix ingredients together.

Shape batter into log and roll up in wax paper. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Slice cookies 1/2 inch thick discs and bake for about 40 minutes until very lightly browned on edges. Cool on pan for 15 minutes prior to removing onto rack as these are delicate when just out of oven.

Pancake Chefs

What a great weekend, all the babies (chefs) report for breakfast duty bright and early! Wouldn't want to do breakfast without them!

Daniel's Fast Recipe~~Meatless Three Bean Chili

Meatless Three Bean Chili

Dry Beans measures to 2 cups total.

I used equal parts:

Garbanzo beans

Black beans

Pinto beans

1 can (10.75oz) tomatoe puree

1 onion

1 Green pepper

1 jalipino pepper

3 cloves garlic

chopped fresh parsley

seasonings:

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt, (I used Morton Nature Seasoning Blend) Add more, to your taste

dash black pepper

Optional garnish: add torn pieces of corn tortilla to soup, grated cheese and top with dollup of plain whole milk yoghurt.

Instructions:

Rinse beans. Drain. Fill a large stock pot half way with water, add dry beans and bring to boil, reduce to good busy simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Drain off all water. In same stock pot, pour fresh water over the beans to cover 3 to 4 inches over. Add all the vegetables, which have been chopped and the seasonings. Add the can of puree. Bring to simmer again, covered and continue to simmer at low heat until beans are tender. About 1 more hour.

Eggplant Stewed with a Touch of Balsamic Vinegar

I love eggplant~~I like it baked whole, then scooped out and mixed with a little salt and lemon juice. Baba ganoosh! I love it sliced, dregged in Italian style bread crumbs and fried. I make a spread for rye bread from eggplant, greenpeppers, carrots, tomato, onions and olive oil. Called Baklazhan. That recipe came from my mother.

This is a little break from the normal fried eggplant fare.

Makes a lovely antipasto item.

Balsamic Eggplant Slices

1 medium eggplant, sliced very thin

1/2 large tomato

1 clove garlic, minced

Olive oil

salt

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

You will slice the eggplant thin, and spread out the slices onto a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for about 30 minutes. Place more paper towels over top and press out the bitter juices. Wipe off as much salt as you can. I don't rinse my eggplant slices, as they will be placed directly onto oil in a skillet.
Place these slices into a skillet coated with olive oil and simmer, covered with lid, along with sliced tomato, and minced garlic until tender. Add 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar toss over all and serve warm or cool as antipasto.

Honey Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Children, this recipe is my own creation. Be blessed with good health as you bake these cookies up for your loved ones!!!

Honey Nut Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened at room temp.

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup honey

2 eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup plus 3 Tbsp. unbleached white flour

1 cup instant oatmeal, uncooked

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix, add the honey, mix. Add the eggs, mix. Add the flours, mix and the oatmeal, mix. Lastly, the chips and nuts. Mix just to blend these into batter.

I use a cookie scoop (which equals about 2 teaspoons of batter) and scoop dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes. They will be golden and a bit soft right out of oven. I put the baking sheet on the stove, leaving the cookies to cool before I transfer them to the cooling rack.

Tip*

Use a timer, while baking and adjust time to your oven, to get the best bake results. Do a test batch with the first tray. Check on the cookies after 8 minutes, because with the good proportion of honey, they could burn on the bottoms if the oven is too hot.

Ponchatoula Strawberry Scones

Ponchatoula Strawberry Scones
made with Ponchatoula Strawberries

2 1/4 cup flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 sticks butter, cold, cut into chunks
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 strawberries washed, dried, leaftop removed and cut into chunks.  Toss in a cup with flour in it to lightly coat the wet fruit.
Place dry ingredients into a bowl.  Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or fork.  Add the berries. Toss into mixture.
Add the buttermilk and vanilla and gently fold into dry mixture using a  rubber spatula.  Form a ball, place onto floured surface.  Knead a few times and divide into two balls.  Press each into disc shape.  Cut into 8 sections using large knife. Place each section gently onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with Demarra sugar or regular sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees about 15 minutes.  Until golden.  Cool on wire rack.  Serve warm.

WOW were these good!!!

Oyster Dipping Sauce

Just wanted to share this coctail sauce recipe. If you want to dip raw or fried oysters or coctail shrimp for that matter, these are the ingredients. Just apply them to your taste preferences.

Louisiana Hot sauce (8 to 10 hard shakes)
Fresh grated, bottled horseradish (I do not use the creamed kind) Use about 3 tablespoons full of this.
lemon juice (1 whole lemon, squeezed)
ketchup (3/4 cup)
dash garlic powder

Powerful good!

Confession and a Shout Out

O k, I confess I have not kept my promise to add the pictures of my own homemade king cake. I am burnt out on the "kakes" cause they are flooding the supermarkets everywhere around here...
May I shout out to "All Recipes" for the popover recipe post!!! They were so good, and I melted butter to be brushed lightly over the hot pop-over followed by a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar as suggested by the reviewers!!! Mine didn't rise real high, I only have a muffin tin to bake them in. But the recipe definatly works...yum!

Home Made is Best ~~King Cake

The traditional King Cake is baked this time of year has history attached...read about it here at MARDI GRAS DIGEST. It may shock you!
Just like our other holidays with pagan roots, which the Catholic Church repurposed to pull people away from the darkness of pagan practices and toward the light of Christ. This one is for the Magi and the feast of Epiphany.

Anyway, this is a yummy coffee cake...It is in all the grocery stores right now because it's Mardi Gras season. I am making one today, and will post pictures in the next post.

King Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
This is actually a yeast bread coffee cake recipe, It's makes the best King Cake recipe I have found!
1 c. sour cream
2 packages yeast
½ c. sugar
½ c. warm water
½ c. butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. Salt
4 c. flour
In a saucepan, combine sour cream, sugar, butter & salt. Cook over med-low heat, stirring for 5-10 mins, or well blended. Cool to room temp. In a mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the sour cream mixture and eggs; mix well. Gradually stir in flour. Knead until smooth. Adding a spoonful or two of flour if too sticky. When smooth and elastic place dough into a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and allow dough to rise until double in size.
When risen, punch dough down, and dump out onto a well floured surface. Roll dough out into a long rectangle appx. 8 inches in width. Spoon filling down the center length of the rectangle.
Place oval on parchment lined & greased baking sheet, allow to rise till double, covered with plastic wrap so as not to dry out. When doubled in size, Brush top evenly with egg wash. Bake in a preheated 370° oven for appx. 30 mins. Will be golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Cover with the vanilla glaze, in three colors! Green, Purple, and Yellow.
*Hide a tiny plastic baby or dry kidney bean, inside from bottom. (Tradition)

Cream Cheese Filling:
2- 8oz. Packs cream cheese, softened
¾ c. sugar
1 egg
Pinch salt
Beat these together well.
Vanilla Glaze:
2 ½ c. powdered sugar
¼ c heavy cream or half & half
1 tsp. Vanilla
Green, purple and yellow food coloring. Traditional colors.
Mix ingredients together, and divide into 3 bowls adding drops of coloring to desired intensity. Spread over cooled King Cake in patches of color.

Cornbread Love!

Facts and Feasting on Cornbread!
Texans like it (so do I) with fresh corn kernels, jalapeno peppers and cheese baked in. Northerners like it made with half flour, half cornmeal, sweet and tender and cut into squares. In the upper Southern states, I found Corn Spoon Bread, which uses canned cream corn and sour cream for a creamy, pudding bread side dish. Deep South, with the addition of buttermilk, I find the popular salty, sweet, chewy corn muffins. Corn sticks...(my favorite) pour the batter into a greased hot cast iron molded baking pan. My molded pan is actually shapes of different vegetables, not little corn cobs.

Stoneground Cornmeal is best, more nutritional, because the corn germ is still included in the flour, and therefore must be kept in freezer to prevent rancidity.
Don't forget to check out the Corn Bread Festival Site!

Black Skillet Corn Bread
I like my cornbread slightly sweet, if you do not, just decrease sugar.
Of course, this may be baked in a square baking pan, as well.
* First thing to do is brush oil onto sides and bottom of a black cast iron skillet. Place skillet in the oven to get it hot before pouring the batter into pan. This will make the nice crisp crust. If you want to use a cast iron cornbread mold you should use the same preheat procedure, though with the molds you will be removing the baked cornbread, oiling, heating the pan prior to refilling and baking in 2 or more batches.
1 c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
2 or 3T. Sugar
½ t. salt
2 t. baking soda
1 egg
1 c. buttermilk or regular milk
3 T. oil
Mix all ingredients together. Remove the hot oiled skillet and pour the mixture into it. (Or by spoonfulls into greased, hot molds filled to 3/4 full) Carefully, place back into oven and in appx. 20 minutes it should be done. Carefully, dump loaf from skillet onto a plate.


Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread
The guys really love this one!
¾ lb. Sharp cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs
1 can creamed corn
Sour cream (16 oz container)
1 4-oz can diced, Jalapeno peppers
½ c. oil
1 c. flour
1 c. corn meal
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
In large bowl, beat eggs, then add the can of corn, sour cream and oil. Stir well. Next fold in the peppers and grated cheese. Last add the dry ingredients. Stir well and pour into a greased and flour dusted baking dish. Bake for appx 45 mins at 350 degrees. Place foil on top, it is browning on the top too quickly.

Easy Corn Spoon Bread
Here it is...my favorite spoon bread recipe using creamed corn and sourcream!
1 can cream corn
1 can whold kernel corn, drained
3 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cu sour cream
1 -8 ounce package corn muffin mix
In a large bowl mix all ingredients together and pour the mixture into a buttered pyrex baking bowl. Place into preheated 350 degree oven and bake for approx. 30 to 40 minutes. Remove and serve up warm scoops of corn bread with delight!

New Year Day 1 menu

Happy New Year!
I know that everyone has awesome New Year Day meal traditions out there. I am cooking traditional Southern, on this day.
Blackeye Peas with ham hocks
Cabbage with potatoes, carrots and hamhocks
Pork Roast
Corn Bread
I may not cook the blackeye peas this way again, all year, I have a favorite pea recipe (Greek)which I make more frequently. Therefore, we enjoy the, cooked from dried peas, which I make on January 1st, all the more. Have a great day!