DIY Pastry Bag

I made mini cupcakes to satisfy my little sweet tooth.  I wasn't going to make the cupcakes because I hate trying to put the batter into the cupcake liners, no matter what size the liners are.  So I thought I would make myself a pastry bag to pipe the batter into the mini liners.  This worked like a dream! 

I took a large zip lock bag and poured all the batter in.  Then I snipped one corner and was able to squeeze the batter so easily into the liners. There was hardly any mess or drips.  

easy does it: piping in the batter
I don't see any drips, do you?

I don't think that this is anything new and I certainly had seen this somewhere, but it made making cupcakes so much easier and more fun for me.  The only thing that wasn't good was the fact that I was eating two at a time... 

Hoisin Pork Roast

Thursday's swim class was approaching and I wanted to find another crock pot recipe to use. I went back to Martha's web site and searched for crock pot recipes but didn't see one I was interested in.  So I went to my favorite, rachaelraymag.com and found this recipe.  

I was a bit skeptical about the recipe, Asian cuisine is not typically one of my favorites, but it called for cilantro and I had some in the fridge that needed to be used.

I mixed the ingredients together, using hoisin sauce and not the duck sauce.  I also used powdered ginger instead of fresh.  I was beginning to worry about the sodium content of this recipe with all the prepared sauces that it called for, but I had already started to make it and there was no turning back.  I cut the recipe in half (as usual) and set in in the crock pot to cook on high for three hours.  I made basmati rice and chopped the cilantro and scallions before I left for swim.

yum?

When I got home, I took the pork out of the crock pot to let it rest and it was a little more cooked than the picture on the recipe page.  So I decided to shred it and mix it into the sauce and have a sort of Asian pulled pork.  I was going to add the cilantro and scallions to the rice and serve the pork over it, but I just mixed everything together.  I also added some sauteed red cabbage too.

pulled pork, Asian style

The result was very good.  It was not overly salty and I really liked the shredded pork and rice mixed together.  I think that I would make hoisin pork roast again.

Shepherd's Pie

there are the parsnips, in the right of the bowl

Over the holidays, my Aunt Mamie and I were talking about parsnips and I told her that I have a really good recipe for shepherd's pie with parsnips in it.  This recipe isn't new to me but I do love it, so thought that I would include it in the blog.


This recipe comes from the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine (one of my favorites).  When I made it, I cut the recipe in half and used ground turkey instead of ground beef.  I then cut the ground turkey in half (1/2 lb. total) and substituted some frozen peas and pearl onions.

Shepherd's pie, out of the oven and ready to eat

This is such a good dish, and so easy to make.  I put it together earlier in the day while Baby Gordy was sleeping and then put it in the oven about a half hour before dinner (20 minutes at 350 degrees and then 10 minutes at 450 degrees).  


If you are not crazy about the horseradish flavor, I'm sure it can be omitted.  This is a great meal to serve during the long cold winter!


Horseradish mashed potato shepherd's pie

Easy Cream Biscuits

As I was re-reading last month's issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray I came across this recipe.  It had only three ingredients: butter, heavy cream, and self rising flour.  I'm not joking when I say that I had been thinking "what am I going to do with all that heavy cream and self rising flour that I have?"  I bought the items for other recipes and only used a bit and now they were just waiting to be used again.


I poured the cup of heavy cream into the flour and started to mix. And mix. And mix.  The two were not combining.  So I added the rest of the cream (another 1/2 cup) and it was still too dry.  So then I got out the skim milk and just poured some in.  And wouldn't you know it, it was too wet.  So then I had to add more flour, about a 1/4 cup, and it was fine.


I put the dough down on a floured counter and patted it into a rectangle, then folded it in half.  Pat, fold, pat, fold.  So easy.  Took out my brand new biscuit cutters, which were also waiting to be used, and made 14 biscuits.  When it came down to the last biscuit, I just put the dough inside the cutter to make the round shape.  I used the melted butter to grease my  cake and pie pans and then brushed the tops of the biscuits with the rest.  They baked up so quickly and were delicious.  You can not even compare these to the ones that come out of the can.  Those don't even taste like a real biscuit.  While making these I thought, "these are the kind of biscuits Paula Deen would be proud of."


This was worth the extra adding of cream, then milk, then flour to get the consistency right.  I froze the leftover biscuits for next time.  (Next time actually came already and they defrosted so easily and still tasted great!)


Two dough covered thumbs up!


Easy, delicious, homemade biscuits

Fresh Winter Fruit Cake with Caramel Glaze

During the holidays, my husband and I had our dear friends, from Montana over for dinner.  We had a wonderful time with Zach and Holly and I had the opportunity to try out a new recipe from Rachael Ray's website rachaelraymag.com.  I thought that a Fresh Winter Fruit Cake sounded festive and would be a great dessert. 


My mother-in-law had gone on a trip to the Finger Lakes in New York.  She bought me a bag of pastry flour from The Birkett Mills company.  I used that flour for the cake.  You can find out more about Birkett Mills on their website, TheBirkettMills.com  


The recipe was pretty easy to follow although I didn't find that the batter became "thick like honey;" the batter looked liked regular batter even after letting mix for a while.  I don't think it made a difference that it wan't like honey.  The caramels were a pain to unwrap, I don't know if there is anything easier than unwrapping the candies.  I also omitted the Jack Daniels from the caramel glaze.  

The cake turned out wonderfully.  I loved the pear and cranberry combination and the caramel topping was a perfect compliment.  My friend Holly said that the cake was so good, "not just grocery store bakery good, real bakery good."  My husband may have even seen her husband take a second slice, the ultimate compliment to the chef!






Two thumbs up!!!!  Below is the link to the cake recipe:
Fresh Winter Fruit Cake

Way to Go Martha- pt. 2

You may recall my New Year's Resolution was to use my crock pot more often.  I thought that Thursday would be the perfect day to do so.  Baby Gordy and I had a Mommy and Me Swim class in the late afternoon so a crock pot dinner seemed in order.

I didn't take any pictures of dinner but here I am
with Baby Gordy on our first day of swim class during
our last session.  He is super excited.

I was on marthastewart.com looking around and saw a slow cooker recipe for Chicken Curry.  This was another Martha recipe that seemed so easy and not hard at all.  I made half the recipe, putting the chicken, spices, garlic, and onions in the crock pot and cooked it on high for four hours.  I did peel and cut up at large potato and add that too.  When I came home from the YMCA.  I added the coconut milk and peas.  A whole bag of peas seemed like a lot, so I only used half a bag (which is one quarter of what the recipe called for).  I added a whole can of coconut milk and thought that it needed more, so I added another can.

I had made rice earlier to serve with the curry and added cilantro for a garnish.  It was very good but under seasoned.  I went back and added the full amount of seasonings (to only half the chicken called for) and I thought it tasted much better.

This was very good and yielded a lot.  I'm going to freeze the leftovers to have again another time.  This was so easy and tasty but just experiment with the right amount of seasonings for your taste buds.

Great work again Martha.  Your recipes made great back-to-back dinners!


Follow this link to get the recipe:

Martha's Chicken Curry

Way to Go Martha- You're Two for Two!

Oh Martha Stewart, you're so fantastic and wonderful.  You're magazine is beautiful and I love to look through the pages and get inspired.  I want to try to make all your recipes but then I look at the list of ingredients and the instructions and think, "um...no." I don't really want to cure my own bacon just so I can have a BLT.

deglazing the sauteed onions, bacon,
and thyme- I wish you could smell it

But, then on Wednesday, I saw a recipe in this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living.  It was a French recipe for Pork Sausage and White Beans.  It just so happened that I was defrosting sausage for dinner that night.  I read through the method and it was surprisingly easy.  I cut the recipe in half and used Italian sausage instead of the French garlic or bratwurst that was recommended.


This recipe was very easy to make and follow (I even made my own bread crumbs, but I'm sure store bought would work just fine).  When I reached the step where I added the thyme, I knew from the fabulous smell that I was going to have a great dinner.

almost ready for the oven

plated with a side of haricot verts

And a great dinner it was!  The dish was really fantastic!!! REALLY!!!!  The Italian sausages were good in it, but I think next time I'd like to try the French garlic sausage.  This is a great comfort food dish but can even be served for a more upscale meal.  

Tres Bon Martha!


Follow this link to the recipe:
Pork Sausage and White Beans

Tuesday Night Dinner

Some of the risotto ingredients and recipe

Tonight for dinner I tested out two new recipes.  The main entree was maple-walnut chicken thighs (from Everyday with Rachael Ray website) with a side of butternut squash risotto (from January's Better Homes and Gardens) and peas.  

The chicken thighs simmering away

The maple-walnut chicken was very easy to make and I even toasted the walnuts this time.  Also, it was quick to prepare.  I liked it, but it was sweet.  It was almost like maple-walnut candy.  I let the sauce cook down for a while so it was pretty thick; maybe if it was a little less thick it wouldn't have been so candy-like.  I would have it again but I don't think my husband cared for it too much.

The risotto as it absorbs the broth

I had high hopes for the butternut squash risotto since I love both.  I didn't have fresh sage so I used powered, about 3/4 tsp (fresh sage would have been better).  The risotto turned out very creamy and had a great squash flavor.  I liked it but don't think that I would make it again.  I wasn't crazy about the squash/ risotto combination.  But if you like those two flavors together, then I think that you would really like the recipe.  






So all in all, a pretty good dinner but not one that I would repeat.


Maple-Walnut Chicken Thighs

Butternut Squash Risotto 

Egg Nog Pancakes- the 10th Way?

The December issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray has an article called Pancakes, 9 Ways.  Now, I usually make my pancakes from Bisquick (or the store brand equivalent of Bisquick) and honestly did not see the point of making them from scratch since I was put off by the long list of ingredients and the step where I had to beat the egg whites.  Is this really worth it?!!?  But I was intrigued by this article and thought I would give it a shot.

A bowl with a spout makes pouring easy!

I made the pancakes the first way, which is just the basic recipe and Wow!!!! They were so delish (to use a Rachael Ray word).  The pancakes were tender and buttery and fantastic.  It was worth the extra effort, which was hardly effort by the way.  Even beating the egg whites was not hard at all (and I did it by hand too).  My only complaint was that the pancake batter was runny which produced thin pancakes.  

So when I made them again this morning, I decided to add 1/4 cup extra flour to thicken them up and make a fluffier pancake (please note that I only made half the recipe so the total amount of flour was used was one cup). I was inspired by the many different variations of the basic recipe and substituted egg nog for the milk and added a few extra dashes of nutmeg. The result was Yum-o (to quote RR again).  Actually better than Yum-o; these were really, really great.  


My husband really liked them saying, "they are very good and the egg nog flavor doesn't 'nog' you over."  Such a bad joke... but I will certainly make these again with or without the egg nog.

So delish!

Here is the link to the basic pancake recipe:
Fluffy Pancakes

Here is the link to the variations of that 
recipe:
Pancakes 9 Ways

New Year's Resolutions

Old Crocky- dusted off and ready to go!

My culinary resolution this year is dust off my crock-pot and use it more often.  I used to make dinners in my crock pot fairly often but have not in a long time.  These one pot dishes are very easy to make and are usually hearty and filling.  I hope to find, use, and write about some great slow cooker dinners this year.