Tuesday Night - you know what that means

It's fish night again- (already, how did that happen?)

Our lemon thyme looks beautiful (and it's about the only thing:)) so............ I searched for lemon thyme sauce and came up with this- I'll give it a try with salmon

Lemon Thyme Sauce:
1 minced shallot
1/4 cup white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter, cut into 3 pieces
1/4 teaspoon arrowroot (optional)
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
Salt
Pepper

In small sauce pan, combine shallots, wine and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, uncovered until shallots are tender and much of the liquid has evaporated (about 5 minutes). Shallots should be tender but not dark. Remove from heat and add 1 piece of butter, stirring with a wire whisk or wooden spoon until the butter has melted. Place the pan over low heat and add the remaining butter, one piece at a time until the butter melts. (If thicker sauce is desired, stir in arrowroot and continue to cook until thickened (about 1 minute). Stir in thyme and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Breakfast Fun

Sometimes it's not so much what you serve, but how you serve it.


....we wished we had some granola to sprinkle on top :)

Tuesday is fish night

Today is Tuesday so it must be fish for dinner. Sometimes it's spicy, sometimes nutty, sometimes sweet the variations are endless. Tonight it is smothered in a creamy cajun parmesean sauce- yum. And, oh so easy!!!

Here's a terrific site for wonderful sauce recipes.

Here it is with cranberries, orange juice and pecans. Add salad, rice, brocolli and voila a meal!!!

New Year's Dip (easy and delicious!!!)

We make this dip every New Years- it is so easy and tastes absolutely yummy.

New Year's Dip

Mix together equal amounts of: chopped sweet onions, mayonnaise, and grated swiss cheese. Spoon into a casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. Serve with plain bagel chips.
That's it.
I've had other people tell me they use different kinds of cheese- cheddar, mozzarella and it works just as well. For us swiss is our fav.

Hope you enjoy....and Happy New Year!!

I'm impressed....

Have you tried this? For those of you who might not have it is ....instant coffee? Starbucks is now offering instant coffee? Aren't these the coffee snobs, the brew masters, the perfect cup of coffee specialists? Instant coffee just doesn't seem to fit.

But, I'm impressed. I was very skeptical and had visions of those nasty little jars of Maxwell House instant that people who don't drink coffee keep on hand for those of us that do.

Weighing in at $.83/cup this stuff is really good. Is it cheaper than brewing a pot at home?Definitely not, but if your on the run it's much cheaper than the drivethrough coffee. And, as my husband so perfectly pointed out, you know what you're getting. Starbucks quality with Starbucks taste instead of playing russian roulette at the drive through.

So...... what a wonderful Christmas idea for the coffee lover (hint, hint).

Almond Spread

Wish you could come to my house and I'd serve you some of this delicious dip. The name doesn't do the taste justice. It is a very versatile, creamy, tasty spread. I like to use this in place of mayonnaise.

Almond Spread- (compliments of From the Kitchen of Two Sisters Cookbook)
...this recipe can be used as a dip for chips, crackers, or vegetables. It can also be a spread for sandwiches or roll-ups.

3/4 cup whole, raw almonds
3/4 cup water
1- 1 1/4 cups olive oil
1 large clove garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

In a high speed blender combine the above ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy.
Keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.

Smoothies Anyone

Smoothies- the options are endless!!
Right after I snapped this picture I thought of all the wonderful ingredients I left out. What about yogurt, kefir, etc.? Anyway, here are a few possible ingredients for your next smoothie break- frozen bananas, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, frozen pineapple, dates, ground flax seed, carob powder, spinach (promise you'll never know its in there:)) almond butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, ... just to name a few. Try to think of ways you can sneak really nutritious ingredients in without anyone being able to tell.

Our smoothies always begin with frozen bananas. We literally could buy a whole box of bananas just to freeze. After that it all depends on what your in the mood for. Here are some of our favorites:

Blueberry Delight
frozen bananas, frozen blueberries, spoonful of: ground flax seeds, coconut oil, and almond butter

Orange Delight
frozen bananas, naval oranges (peeled), 1/2 cup or so of yogurt. Blend really well to break up the orange pulp.

Carob Delight (tastes just like the chocolate ice cream from Wendy's)
frozen bananas, heaping spoonful of carob powder, maple syrup, ground flax seed, almond butter

Strawberry Delight
frozen bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen mango, 3-4 large spinach leaves, coconut oil.

What about you? What are some of your favorite combinations?

"If I had a Bed and Breakfast I'd serve these"

...to which Allison replied, "mom, you do!"

Well sort of, I'd rather think of it as a home that serves at least three meals and many snacks:).

By the way, if you have never tried spelt flour before this is a great one to try it on.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1 cup pumpkin

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 Tablespoon yeast

4-5 cups flour (I used spelt)

Filling: 1/4 cup melted butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Icing: 1/4 cup cream cheese

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tablespoon milk

Heat milk and butter. Mix pumpkin, salt, honey, eggs and add to the milk and butter. Add yeast ( I use the Bosch mixer) and flour until it is well mixed. Turn out on a floured counter, knead a few times, and roll out to a large rectangle. For the filling brush the rectangle with 1/4 cup melted butter. Combine 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg. Sprinkle this mixture on top and roll up the rectangle. Cut into 12-14 rolls and place on a cookie sheet to rise. Let rise for 20 minutes or put in the frig until the morning. Let rise and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. While baking mix together the icing ingredients and spread on the warms rolls. Enjoy!

An Easy Yogurt Maker

We've been making yogurt lately. Not only is it delicious it is so much less expensive than the store bought kind.

It's really simple. All you need is: a heating pad, stainless steel bowl, thermometer, fresh milk, and plain yogurt (store bought or from a previous batch).

First I heat my milk to 150 degrees in a water bath to pasturize it ( my milk is raw). Next, I let it cool to 110 degrees. Then I add 2 T yogurt for every quart of milk, stir it in, cover, and let it sit for seven hours undisturbed on top of a heating pad on meduim heat. I also wrap some towels around the bowl to insulate it. - presto a wonderful batch of yogurt.

Frozen Bread Dough Part II

In an earlier post on frozen bread dough I inadvertently left out the thawing procedure. It's really easy- we simply take the lump of dough out of the freezer and leave it on the counter until it completely thaws out and begins to rise. See- simple!

You can use it partially frozen, but we have had better luck when it is completely thawed. And, as a reminder we have not had good results baking it in a loaf pan. I have no idea why, but it works really good for rolls etc.

Hope it works for you.

Frozen Bread Dough

A reader asked me recently how many loaves my bread recipe makes. We weigh our dough so the loaves look better and cook evenly. We put 2 pounds of dough per bread pan and for my recipe that yields 4 loaves with sometimes a little dough left over.

Sometimes we make a little mini loaf from the extra dough. I like for my husband to take these to his work as little thank yous :). Also, if we don't need that many loaves or don't want to run the risk of the bread going bad we frequently freeze our dough. This dough makes terrific rolls, pizza dough, doughnuts, buns, etc. We have not had luck using the frozen dough for a loaf of bread. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem to rise and bake as well in a loaf pan. The rolls, buns, etc. rise and bake up beautifully.

Of course, you can always freeze the baked loaf.

Have Any Deer Meat Left?

You may want to try this. It was really good!

Venison Meatballs

2 cups grated raw potatoes

1 tbsp. onion chopped

1/8 tsp. pepper

¼ cup milk

3 cups water

2 cups sour cream

1½ lbs. ground venison

1½ tsp. salt

1 egg

¼ cup butter

2-3 tbsp. flour

1 tsp. dill seed

Combine potatoes, venison, onion, salt, pepper, egg, and milk. Shape into 1½-inch balls. Brown balls slowly in butter in large skillet. Add ½ cup water and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes or until done. Remove meatballs.Stir in flour and remaining water. Simmer until thick. Reduce heat. Stir in cream and dill. Add meatballs. Heat, but do not boil. Serves 8.

Note: May be cooked by alternate method – Brown meatballs; remove to casserole. Make gravy, add sour cream and dill. Pour gravy over meatballs and finish in oven.

What we do with slightly stale bread and end pieces

Who wants to finish that heel of yesterday's bread when a fresh loaf has just come out of the oven? So, I'll snatch up the little left over ends and heels and cube them, toss them in a zip lock bag we keep in our freezer and soon they'll become oven baked french toast.
Here's a simple recipe:

Oven Baked French Toast


Let frozen bread cubes thaw out in a 9 x 13 glass pan- maybe set them out the night before (if you forget and have to use them frozen it's no problem because they thaw out so quickly)


In a mixing bowl combine:


3-4 eggs


1- 1 1/2 cups milk


dash of vanilla flavoring


dash of cinnamon (if desired)


about 1/4 cup pure maple syrup


Pour this mixture over the bread cubes and bake at 350 degrees 30 minutes or so until set. Remove from the oven, drizzle with pure maple syrup, and serve.


Hope you enjoy - as you can tell the ingredients are not exact, but you get the idea. Use what works for you. The amount of milk and eggs you need is based on the amount of bread cubes you have.

Cornbread Salad

This is one my favorite easy to make, easy to take salads. The variations are endless and I don't think I've ever had one taste bad. (I was out of sour cream when I took the picture above- it is really pretty with dollops of sour cream)

Here's the recipe I made most recently:

Cornbread Salad

1 pan cornbread (made however your family likes it- sweet, buttermilk, spicy, etc.)

1 head washed romaine lettuce torn into bite size pieces

1 pint grape tomatoes sliced

1 green pepper chopped

1 package green onions chopped

1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1-2 cups cooked corn or canned

2-3 cups cooked pinto beans or canned

2 cups cooked diced chicken

1 1/2 cups sour cream mixed with 1/2 cup salsa

extra sour cream for topping

Directions:

In the bottom of a large glass bowl layer the torn romaine lettuce pushing it up the sides of the bowl to form a lettuce bowl. Next add a layer of: crumbled cornbread, chicken, pinto beans, green pepper, green onions, corn, tomatoes, and cheese. Top this with a layer of the sour cream/salsa dressing. This should take up about one third of your bowl. Begin the layers again starting with the romaine lettuce and ending with the dressing. For the last layer start with the romaine lettuce, layer the cornbread, beans, and chicken, then end with the vegetables. Top this with grated cheese. Next, alternate dollops of plain sour cream then salsa around the bowl. You can add slices of cornbread around the edges of the bowl, sliced tomatoes or whatever you have. Fresh cilantro would be wonderful, also (thanks, Jen!) and look what a gorgeous salad you have!

Make this salad fit whatever you need- the larger the bowl it can be an entire meal, or you can make a small salad to accompany your Mexican night.

Variations:

substitute browned ground beef for chicken

cook the chicken or ground beef with taco seasonings and cool

leave out the meat entirely

use another type of cooked bean ex. black, kidney, white or mix the beans

leave off any of the vegetables your family doesn't like

use your imagination!

Hope you enjoy- let me know how yours turns out!

Homemade Doughnuts.....Yum!!!

O.K. it started like this- we dropped by a friend's house to deliver some honey and her kids were so excited to tell us about making homemade doughnuts. What a fun idea!! Their mom emailed me the recipe they used.

We tried it and they were delicious, but ....since I'm forever looking for short cuts -it got me to thinking. Would our bread dough work as doughnuts? Let's give it a whirl.

We took our regular bread dough, cut them like doughnuts, let them rise for 15-20 minutes, fried them in coconut oil, and tossed them in brown sugar and cinnamon. Boy, am I sorry I tried this!! They were really good. These will definitely be made again:).

Pumpkin Muffins Two Ways

Pumpkin Muffins
(original version w/sugar)

3 1/3 cups flour
2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin
1 cup oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
2 t. soda
1 t. salt
3 cups sugar
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. cloves

Mix oil, sugar, water, eggs and pumpkin. In a separate bowl mix flour, soda, salt and spices. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees 20 - 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Muffins
(healthy version w/honey and whole wheat flour)

substitute 3 1/3 cups flour for 3 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
substitue 3 cups sugar for 3 cups honey (you could get by with a little less)

and proceed as above.

I really like the healthy version better (when I can tell the difference :)) I can't believe how delicious and moist these are.

I'm Thirsty!!!!

I know when it's hot the best beverage you can drink is water. But, for those times when you need a change from water it's nice to have an option on hand.

I really like to keep seltzer water, carbonated water or some version thereof to make an inexpensive refreshing juice drink. Just about any juice mixed with the carbonated water and served over ice makes a wonderful treat. For some reason the cranberry versions are especially good and if you freeze the juice before mixing it with the water it makes a slushy delight.

Note: I always check the ingredients on the seltzer water some brands contain sodium but, I prefer those that contain carbonated water only.

What beverages do you enjoy on a hot day?

Making Mixes Is Easy and A Time Saver Too

In preparation for getting out of town for a few days my daughter has been making up some mixes- pancake, muffin, biscuit etc. We have found this is a wonderful way to speed up meal preparation so we all can take a vacation.

It's easy-take your favorite recipe and a zip lock bag. Write the mixing and baking instructions from your recipe on the bag with a sharpie marker - be sure to list the wet ingredients and items you'll be adding later that aren't in your mix. Next add all the dry ingredients to your bag and zip it up. The bag can either be stored in the refrig or freezer until your ready to go. We have found the bags pack neatly and tightly.

While we are making our mixes we keep two lists on hand one for other grocery items we want to take from home and another for our grocery list to purchase once we arrive. This way we ensure that all the ingredients needed to mix up our dish are on hand. We also make seasoning packets for spaghetti sauce, tacos or other dishes we'll be preparing that week. My daughter likes to label her mixes with the day she'll be preparing them- so while the mixes are being made the menus are all planned out.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Write on the bag -Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a separate bowl combine- 1 2/3 cups honey; 1 cup oil; 3 eggs; 1 3/4 cups milk; 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring; 2 teaspoons lemon flavoring. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Pour into greased muffin cups and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Place in bag- 3 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour; 1 Tablespoon baking powder; 1 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup poppy seeds.

Note: this makes a lot you may want to half the recipe.

Enjoy!!

I Really Don't Know What I Was Thinking

We had been blueberry picking once already and come home with five gallons, but the bushes were still loaded and I couldn't stand the thought of leaving so many on the bush.

Soooooooooo, back we go and home again with five more gallons. My thought being they are so delicious, so easy to freeze, so wonderful to cook with and on and on.


Anyway, if you have a surplus too, here are some more ideas-

Blueberry smoothie-

Fresh blueberries, frozen bananas, and yogurt

Wonderful Blueberry Oat Coffee Cake
Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Topping
4 Tablespoons butter melted
1 cup oats

Cake
Wet ingredients:
1 cup milk or buttermilk
2/3 cup honey
4 eggs


Dry ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions
Mix the topping ingredients together and set aside. Combine the next four wet ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl combine the next five ingredients dry ingredients and mix together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix briefly, and pour into a greased 9x13x2 glass pan.

Sprinkle the blueberries and topping on top. Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.

Does anyone have a recipe for blueberry jam?

Has anyone dehydrated blueberries?

Blueberries!!! Muffins Anyone?

The blueberries are in and boy are they sweet. Some of my children helped me pick and between the seven of us we got 5 gallons and are planning to go back for more. The bushes belong to a neighbor of ours and we couldn't believe how loaded they were. You could stand in one spot and pick forever.

Here are two of our favorite blueberry muffin recipes. One is the sweet bakery type- white flour, white sugar- terrible for you but wonderfully fluffy and delicious.

The other is slightly sweet and much more hearty- made with whole wheat flour, oats and honey. Good for you and good tasting too.

What mood are you in?

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all- purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup butter softened

Cream butter; gradually add 1/3 cup sugar, beating at medium speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating well

Combine 2 1/3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract, and fold in blueberries

Spoon batter into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Combine topping ingredients with a pastry blender until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of muffin batter. Bake at 375 degrees 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans immediately. Yield 1 1/2 dozen

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Wet Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups milk
2 eggs
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup canola oil

Dry Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda

1 1/2 cup blueberries

Combine the wet ingredients using a wire whisk.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

Add both mixtures together. Gently stir in the blueberries

Pour the batter into greased muffin cups

Bake 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until light brown.


What's your favorite blueberry treat?