Bryant and I decided to do this 21 day eating challenge (shortened into 15 days because that is the longest amount of time we are both in town this month) and we started yesterday. I'm posting the link because everything we have eaten so far has been surprisingly delicious. There were some recipes I was dreading (like the kale and cabbage slaw) but have ended up loving. The first week your meals consist of fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds and lots of water. I thought we were going to starve. But I'm not. And I am interested to see as we reintroduce foods (sea food and legumes, then eggs and non gluten grains, and eventually dairy and gluten and sugar) how each item makes me feel. 21 days (or 15 in our case) doesn't feel like forever and it has been a great way to try some new veggie based recipes and to learn how to incorporate more nuts and seeds into our meals. So no fun dessert recipes from me until February.
Do you want to know what I miss the most? Cheese. I love cheese.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Monday, December 26, 2011
Christmas 2011 recipe links
Clementine Sherbet: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04food-t-001.html?_r=1&ref=magazine
*made with clementines instead of tangerines, would use a bit less salt next time, but amazingly delicious nonetheless.
Sugared Cranberries: http://blog.mychefonline.com/2011/12/sugared-cranberries/
*don't blend up sugar, superfine sugar is not needed, good old regular sugar works perfectly for dusting. We didn't use any spices. Next time save the syrup after soaking cranberries to flavor drinks or drizzle over something delicious. We couldn't stop eating these.
*made with clementines instead of tangerines, would use a bit less salt next time, but amazingly delicious nonetheless.
Sugared Cranberries: http://blog.mychefonline.com/2011/12/sugared-cranberries/
*don't blend up sugar, superfine sugar is not needed, good old regular sugar works perfectly for dusting. We didn't use any spices. Next time save the syrup after soaking cranberries to flavor drinks or drizzle over something delicious. We couldn't stop eating these.
Cranberry Cake
It just wouldn't be Christmas without this cake.
6 T unsalted butter
2 c sugar
2 c evaporated milk
4 c flour
3 T baking powder
2 t salt
4 c whole cranberries, rinsed and picked over
Cream butter and sugar. Add evaporated milk. Add combined dry ingredients. Fold in cranberries. Smooth batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. *Batter is really thick! Don't be concerned.
Serve cake warm with hot butter sauce:
In a double boiler combine:
1 c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
3/4 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla
Heat through and then add vanilla. Serve immediately. You'll want a lot of this sauce on your cake.
6 T unsalted butter
2 c sugar
2 c evaporated milk
4 c flour
3 T baking powder
2 t salt
4 c whole cranberries, rinsed and picked over
Cream butter and sugar. Add evaporated milk. Add combined dry ingredients. Fold in cranberries. Smooth batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. *Batter is really thick! Don't be concerned.
Serve cake warm with hot butter sauce:
In a double boiler combine:
1 c unsalted butter
1 c sugar
3/4 c heavy cream
1 t vanilla
Heat through and then add vanilla. Serve immediately. You'll want a lot of this sauce on your cake.
Friday, December 9, 2011
The Shaffer Family Christmas Cookie
The majority of my favorite cookie recipes come from my Nana and Papa's hometown community cookbook. This gingersnap recipe is incredible. We think it should be renamed gingersoft because that is a more accurate description. The recipe makes a huge batch. Huge. Your house will smell like Christmas and you will have so many cookies that you can take up to half the batch into your closet and eat them one by one all by yourself and no one will suspect a thing.
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c shortening
1/2 c plus 2 T molasses
5 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
2 t ginger
Sugar for rolling (I now use turbinado sugar to roll the dough because it gives it a crunch on the exterior and I like the contrast in textures, but regular granulated sugar is just fine)
Cream together sugar, eggs and shortening. Add molasses. Scrape down sides of bowl. Sift together other ingredients and combine with creamed mixture. Roll into smallish balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes.
Your cookies are done when they just begin to crack. Take them out and cool them on the sheet for a few minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to completely cool. They set up as they cool.
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c shortening
1/2 c plus 2 T molasses
5 c flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
2 t ginger
Sugar for rolling (I now use turbinado sugar to roll the dough because it gives it a crunch on the exterior and I like the contrast in textures, but regular granulated sugar is just fine)
Cream together sugar, eggs and shortening. Add molasses. Scrape down sides of bowl. Sift together other ingredients and combine with creamed mixture. Roll into smallish balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes.
Your cookies are done when they just begin to crack. Take them out and cool them on the sheet for a few minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to completely cool. They set up as they cool.
The Peppermint Bark Cookie
Sunset magazine had a recipe for White Christmas Dream Drops that I tweaked due to a lack of ingredients and came up with this mound of deliciousness. Bryant doesn't like peppermint bark (weird) or meringue (even weirder) but loved these cookies. Go make some.
(I doubled the recipe. I may quadruple it next time because these are so very good.)
2 large egg whites, room temperature (if you forget to put your egg whites just put them in a bowl full of hot water and let sit for 5 minutes or so and it will do the trick)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (didn't have, but if you do have it you might want to add it)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
4 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped (the original recipe calls for 1 c white chocolate chips - I think it would be fun to use both, but haven't tried it yet)
1/3 c crushed candy canes (crush it as fine as you want, I didn't want to bite into a huge chunk of candy cane so I crushed mine more on the fine end of the candy crushing spectrum)
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and salt. With mixer on high speed add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time and beat for 10 to 15 seconds with each addition. Scrape sides of bowl and beat for another 15 seconds or until meringue is glossy and forms straight, stiff peaks. Fold in chocolate and crushed candy canes.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpat and drop meringue in rounded 1 T blobs, or if you want it to be fancy schmancy pipe them with a large star tip. Bake until they feel dry and set but are still pale in color, about 30 to 35 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Turn off oven, open door, and let cool in oven for 10 minutes. Remove pans from oven and let cool completely. You aren't supposed to eat them until they are completely cool, but I recommend eating 1 pan warm and 1 pan cool and then you will have the best of both worlds.
(I doubled the recipe. I may quadruple it next time because these are so very good.)
2 large egg whites, room temperature (if you forget to put your egg whites just put them in a bowl full of hot water and let sit for 5 minutes or so and it will do the trick)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (didn't have, but if you do have it you might want to add it)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
4 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate, finely chopped (the original recipe calls for 1 c white chocolate chips - I think it would be fun to use both, but haven't tried it yet)
1/3 c crushed candy canes (crush it as fine as you want, I didn't want to bite into a huge chunk of candy cane so I crushed mine more on the fine end of the candy crushing spectrum)
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and salt. With mixer on high speed add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time and beat for 10 to 15 seconds with each addition. Scrape sides of bowl and beat for another 15 seconds or until meringue is glossy and forms straight, stiff peaks. Fold in chocolate and crushed candy canes.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpat and drop meringue in rounded 1 T blobs, or if you want it to be fancy schmancy pipe them with a large star tip. Bake until they feel dry and set but are still pale in color, about 30 to 35 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Turn off oven, open door, and let cool in oven for 10 minutes. Remove pans from oven and let cool completely. You aren't supposed to eat them until they are completely cool, but I recommend eating 1 pan warm and 1 pan cool and then you will have the best of both worlds.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Creamed Corn: A True Story
Bryant and I had been dating for just a few months when Thanksgiving rolled around. He was scheduled to work that holiday and couldn't go home to Rexburg and wouldn't get off work in time to join my family for dinner. I was housesitting and decided to attempt to impress him by cooking an entire Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us. I asked him what his favorite dishes were from his version of Thanksgiving and he listed off apple pie (not a problem) and creamed corn. I had never heard of creamed corn. So I googled it and read recipe after recipe, finally settling on one from the Savvannah Chop House. Thanksgiving rolled around, the dinner was amazing, and when he tasted the creamed corn he was crazy impressed. And then he asked me what brand made it. I looked confused. Brand? It comes in a can?!? I had no idea, and have been making creamed corn at his request from scratch ever since.
2 10 oz pkgs frozen corn
1 c whipping cream
1 c milk
1 t salt
6 T sugar
2 T melted butter
2 T flour
Combine first 5 ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Meanwhile, blend butter and flour in a seperate bowl and add to corn mixture and mix well until thickened.
2 10 oz pkgs frozen corn
1 c whipping cream
1 c milk
1 t salt
6 T sugar
2 T melted butter
2 T flour
Combine first 5 ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Meanwhile, blend butter and flour in a seperate bowl and add to corn mixture and mix well until thickened.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Cheater Chocolate Mousse
This has been a busy cake month. At the beginning I made my sister's wedding cake which consisted of 3 tiers (which each had 4 layers) of devils food cake, brushed with salted caramel and filled with chocolate mousse (the real stuff) and then frosted with the mascarpone frosting. It was good.
My neighbor turned 40 this weekend and his wife asked if I would make him a chocolate cake for his birthday. So I used my no-fail Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe and did a cheater version of chocolate mousse that always gets rave reviews. It is really quite simple. Make the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate frosting. Whip 2 cups of cream (add sugar to taste) and fold the cream into the frosting. Everyone loves it. It is crazy easy. And then the cake was frosted with the regular frosting.
And I made a cake for one of my YW who recently turned 14 and left my class. She requested a German Chocolate cake so I used the same chocolate cake recipe, same frosting, and made the pecan coconut filling from scratch for the first time. Also really good. Let me know if you want the recipe.
My neighbor turned 40 this weekend and his wife asked if I would make him a chocolate cake for his birthday. So I used my no-fail Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe and did a cheater version of chocolate mousse that always gets rave reviews. It is really quite simple. Make the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate frosting. Whip 2 cups of cream (add sugar to taste) and fold the cream into the frosting. Everyone loves it. It is crazy easy. And then the cake was frosted with the regular frosting.
And I made a cake for one of my YW who recently turned 14 and left my class. She requested a German Chocolate cake so I used the same chocolate cake recipe, same frosting, and made the pecan coconut filling from scratch for the first time. Also really good. Let me know if you want the recipe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
