Patrick Bakes Biscuits

Patrick has been learning to cook and seems to have a knack for baking.  He is pleased to know it is in the blood, as his ancestors on his father’s side owned a bakery.  He was not too proud to wear the flowery apron.  (I offered the patriotic one that I was wearing, but he is secure in his masculinity.) Flambo!!

Biscuits

2 cups Self- rising flour
1/4 cup butter flavored Crisco
2/3-1/4 cups Rice milk or Almond milk

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Measure flour into bowl.
  
• Cut in Crisco with a pastry blender until mixture resembles course cornmeal.
  
• Blend in just enough mild with a fork until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
  
• Turn dough onto lightly floured surface.  Knead gently few turns.  If dough is too sticky to handle, knead in a little more flour.

• Roll out the dough to roughly 1/2 inch thickness (he goes for less). Cut with a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter or other suitable object. Patrick uses a tall glass.

• Place on a baking sheet or baking stone 1 inch apart.

camo and flowers

• Bake 12-15 minutes or until gooollllden bwown.  Makes 12. 

 

 

 

Magic Peanut Butter Middles

 found this recipe here:

http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2010/01/magic-peanut-butter-middles.html

Magic Peanut Butter Middles

Chocolate Cookie Dough:
3 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar


For chocolate cookie dough sift together flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream sugars with butter and peanut butter. Add vanilla and eggs. Beat well. Slowly add sifted dry ingredients until well incorporated. For peanut butter filling, in another bowl beat together peanut butter and powdered sugar. Divide the chocolate cookie dough and the peanut butter filling into 60 portions each. Roll each portion into a ball. For each cookie, flatten a chocolate ball and place a peanut butter ball in the middle.

Bring up chocolate dough and surround peanut butter filling.

Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten slightly with a glass dipped in sugar (or we use our fingers).

Bake at 375 for 7 minutes.

Try and share. :)

Chicken Noodle Soup

On a cold day, sometimes this is exactly what you need.  When a friend made this for me with home made noodles, I never went back to store bought. Here is my version.  FLAMBO!

Home Made Chicken Noodle Soup

3 Boneless Chicken Breast
4 quarts water
1 stalk of celery, broken up into chunks
a few Baby Carrots
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 Bay leaf
about 5-6 peppercorns
salt

In a large pot, bring all ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 1 hours, till chicken is no longer pink.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Remove all solids from the water and place them in a small bowl.  Strain the cooking water and return to pot.  Break up the chicken into sizes that suit yourself, chop the carrots, celery and onion and return to pot along with the bay leaf.

Add 2 large cartons of a good quality Chicken Broth.  I use an organic brand, either Imagine or Pacific from the Health Food section in my grocery store.  Bring to a boil, then add a half pound fresh Broccoli, cut into small pieces or a 12-oz package of frozen Broccoli.  If you wish, peel and slice  carrots and add to the pot.  Bring to a boil.  (If you prefer to use canned sliced carrots, that works just fine)  Salt and pepper to taste.

Make a batch of homemade noodles (I use the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook). I prefer to use a lighter, not so heavy flour, such as White Lily.

2 1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 c. water
1 tsp.  extra virgin olive oil

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and salt.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  In a small bowl combine eggs, water and oil.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir to combine until it is just barely sticky.

Sprinkle a clean kneading surface with flour (we use plastic cutting boards).

Divide dough in half. Roll out each section

then cut into strips, (we use a pasta cutter, but a pizza cutter or knife will do).

Cut down to sizes you prefer (we use a pizza cutter for this and add to the pot.

   Allow them to cook for a couple of minutes, absorbing the flavor of the broth. Serve hot.

Yummm…..this serves, with leftovers, my family of 5, which includes 1 insatiable teenage son, who eats more than one helping.

Whole Wheat Rolls

When my Katie was little, I found her banging my home made rolls on the table. Yes, Banging!! Then we later found that roll in my husband’s Cowboy boot.  I got the message.  My rolls were terrible and I have never mastered the art of edible dinner rolls.  My rolls qualify as NHL Hockey Pucks.

I have never given up the search tho, for the recipe that even this Queen of the Hockey Puck Roll can’t transform into something horrible!  It was in a coupon flier that came with the Sunday Paper a few weeks ago. I believe it was an advertisement for Fleishman’s Yeast.

Flambo!!   They turn out right every time.

Classic Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 envelopes Fleishman’s RapidRise Yeast (I use 4 1/2 tsp yeast in a jar)
2 Tbl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk (I use unsweetened Almond Milk)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbl butter or margarine
1 to 1-1/4 cups all purpose flour (I end up using about 1-1/2 cups)

**Combine whole wheat flour, dissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Heat milk, water and butter until very warm (120 to 130 degrees). Add flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed on electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.  Ad 1/4 cup all purpose flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Cover; let rise 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces shape into balls.  Place in greased 8 or 9-inch round pan.*** Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 30 minutes.****

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; brush with additional melted butter, if desired. Serve warm.

**I used my Kitchen Aid mixer, using the dough hook, allowing the mixer to knead my dough through the entire process, until smooth and elastic.  Flambo does not knead anything.  *;-.)

***I use a 9-inch square pan.

**** for a real treat, roll them in milk, or spray them with Pam, then dip the tops in, sesame seeds. or poppy seeds, garlic powder with italian herbs…the possibilites are endless.  Make them checkerboard style…

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Onions and Pecans

I have been looking for a sweet potato recipe that I will make again, and I have found it in my local newspaper. It’s not sweet, it’s not gooey, it’s not mashed and it does not contain Marshmallows!  Flambo!!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Onions and Pecans

2-3 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-2 inch chunks
1 large onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup chopped pecans
2 TBL olive oil
Salt and ground pepper to taste

Heat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine sweet potatoes, onion, garlic and pecans.    Toss with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. 

Makes 6-8 servings.

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles

In my search for something different and wonderful, I happened upon a link for this  recipe (original found at Chocolate on My Cranium).  What I have here is my version with a couple of changes and doubled (I like to make and freeze them)

Spiced Pumpkin Waffles 

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour  (or I may use *all* whole wheat)
* 6 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 pinch salt
* 4 eggs, separated
* 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1 14-16  oz. can pumpkin puree
* 3 1/3 cups milk (your preference.  I use coconut almond milk)
* 4 TBL olive oil

* Spray oil (such as Pam or the equivalent)
Directions

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl. 
2. Separate eggs. Pour egg whites into a small bowl and whip until fluffy and white. 
3. In a second larger bowl, add egg yolks, sugar, pumpkin, milk, and oil. Beat well. 
4. Gently fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture and mix well 
5. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
6. Bake according to your waffle iron directions. These come out a nice golden brown. 
7. Serve with maple syrup or honey butter.

Lemon and Rosemary Chicken

I love the Thanksgiving holiday almost as much as I love the Christmas Holiday (which starts in August in my house).  The smells, the flavors, the gatherings, just linger in my heart.  One day, I was perusing a favorite recipe site for crock pot ideas, when I found this heavenly fragrant whole chicken dish.  It smells like Thanksgiving Day.

The original recipe claims a 9 hour cooking time, for a 3 lb chicken.  Mine, and always a bigger chicken, is done in about 6 hours. Work with your own slow cooker to see how long it takes in your home.  Flambo!!

Below is the link for the original recipe:

Fragrant Lemon Chicken

Here is what I do with it.  I put this in the Crock Pot every Sunday and it’s ready for us when we get home from church.

 Ready to start cooking.

Lemon and Rosemary Chicken

1 whole chicken, 4-5 lbs
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 Apple, peeled, quartered and seeded

1 Lemon, zested and juiced
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium sized onion, (your choice) chopped
1 sprig of Fresh Rosemary (1 tsp of dried from a jar if you don’t have fresh)

1 cup water or Chicken Broth

Rinse the chicken and place in the slow cooker.  Stuff the cavity with the celery and apple pieces.

Sprinkle the Lemon Zest over the chicken breast, add salt and pepper.  Evenly distribute the chopped onion on top.  Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the onions, then pluck the fresh rosemary leaves off the stem and sprinkle them around the chicken.

Add the water or broth to the pot.

Place the lid on the pot and turn on to High for 1 hour.  After one hour, turn down to Low for another 5 hours (according to my crock pot) or until the chicken legs are easily moved around. 

This chicken can take 6-8 hours to cook, depending on your slow cooker quirks.  Mine takes about 6 hours.  But no matter how long it takes, it smells like Thanksgiving Day.  I love Sundays.

After the chicken is cooked, the juice makes a fabulous gravy. Strain the juices into a juice/fat separator, if you have it, leaving to sit for a few minutes so the fat can rise to the top.  Pour into a pot (after skimming the fat off the top if you don’t have the separator) adding the onions and rosemary to said pot along with more salt and pepper.  I add probably another cup of chicken broth from a carton (a good quality organic brand), about 1/2 cup Almond milk (regular milk will be just fine) a few pieces of  dark meat, shredded, and thicken with a cornstarch and water mixture. 

This is wonderful on Mashed potatoes, on the meat, and saving leftover gravy to pour into a Chicken Pot Pie on Tuesday.