This & That

Bread

You know bread....the staff of life. I love bread. I love carbs. My husband calls me the carbo-queen. Baking bread is something that I started doing right after I got married, because we were poor, starving students. It got to be a habit and something that I've grown to really enjoy.

Back in the day, I would do the whole process by hand...mixing, kneading, shaping the dough. Later on, I got one of those handy-dandy mixers that does most of the hard work for you, but there's still nothing quite like the feel of kneading bread dough. 

And there's truly nothing like the smell of baking bread in your house. When my kids were little, they used to beg me to buy bread at the store. "Mom, can we please have some squishy bread??"

They don't any more.

Orange Muffins with Brown Sugar Glaze

The Girl has had a thing for citrus lately....and strawberries, but that doesn't have anything to do with this post. She made Lemon Bars this past week and ate 2 or 3 of these muffins when I made them for breakfast last weekend. They are really good, but then again, they come from the Pioneer Woman website. The original recipes calls for them to be baked in mini-muffin tins, but I just did them regular size. I also made half the recipe since I just don't have that many bodies around. Half the recipe makes about 10 muffins.

Orange Muffins with Brown Sugar Glaze

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, add 1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice to just under 1 cup milk)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• Grated rind of 2 oranges
• Juice of 2 oranges
• 1 cups brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degree. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix well. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk; pour in mixing bowl. Add 2 cups flour and orange rind and mix together well. Fill mini (or regular) muffin pans 2/3 full and bake for 12-17 minutes or until light golden. (The regular muffins took about 14-15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Combine 1 cup brown sugar with the juice from the two oranges. Stir together, and drizzle over warm muffins. Remove from pans immediately and eat warm.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

These. Are. Deadly. Really, really deadly, and they come from the Sadie's Kitchen Adventures blog.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

• 2 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, soft
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 package toffee bits, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. 

Whisk together flour, salt and brown sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture is crumbly. Add eggs and mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands. Mix in 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the dough. Press the remaining dough into prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Pour the condensed milk evenly over the crust. Top with all but 1/3 of the toffee bits. Place pieces of remaining dough over the top. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Bake for 25-30 more minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle the remaining toffee bits on top. Cool completely before serving. 

Ranch Ham & Broccoli Cheese Rolls

I have been trying to work my way through the leftover Easter ham. So far this week, we've had homemade macaroni and cheese with ham, scalloped potatoes with ham, College Boy Quiche and this new recipe. It was a huge hit with The Girl and one that will be added to the rotation of post-hammy meals. The original recipe came from the Deals to Meals blog.

Ranch Ham & Broccoli Cheese Rolls

• 1 recipe roll dough (or packaged crescent or biscuit dough---I used the Lion House recipe)
• 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon parsley (dried or fresh)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon dry ranch dressing mix 
• 2 cups ham, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped 
• 2 cups shredded  cheddar cheese 
• 1 cup chopped green onions

Follow the recipe for your roll dough until the dough has risen once. Punch down the dough and roll the dough out into a large rectangle about 1/2" thick. 

In a small bowl, cream together the butter, mayonnaise and cream cheese. Add the seasonings and mix. Spread the rolled-out dough with the butter/cream cheese mixture. Top with the ham, broccoli, cheese and green onions. Roll the dough up, pinching the seam to seal.

Slice the roll into about 1" segments. Place the rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let the rolls rise until nearly doubled and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly.

Cinnamon Orange Muffins

Oh my laws these are good! I cut the recipe in half to make just one dozen and the whole dozen was gone during the day. Like the Strawberry Muffins from last year, these are this year's favorite so far. I found the recipe on the Deals to Meals blog. Try. Them.

Cinnamon Orange Muffins

Mix together in a large bowl:

• 2/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 Tablespoons sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Zest of one orange

Then add:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking bowder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend until mixed, but don't overbeat...batter should be a little lumpy. Fill 24-30 muffin cups 2/3 full. 

Sprinkle with a mixture of:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 4 Tablespoons butter

Bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 minutes. 

 

Italian Tortellini Soup

If you scan back through the recipe category on this blog and look at the soup recipes I've posted, you'll notice perhaps that I'm a big fan of the creamy variety. Yes, I am. On occasion, however, I find one that has a different sort of base that's really good and this is my most recent find. It comes from the Jamie Cooks It Up blog and meets my newly emerging criteria for cooking.....fast and tasty. The recipe feeds the five thousand, so I cut it in half and had leftovers enough to freeze as well as enough for lunch the next day. It takes 45 minutes to an hour to put together, start to finish.

Italian Tortellini Soup

• 1 pound ground beef (I used Italian sausage)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 onion
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 (14.5 oz.) cans Italian stewed tomatoes (I only used 1 can for half the recipe)
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
• 8 cups water
• 8 teaspoons beef bouillon
• 1 green pepper, chopped (I don't like green peppers, so I used red)
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 cup fresh or frozen green beans, chopped
• 1 can kidney beans (I left these out because The Girl is a wuss)
• 1 cup zucchini, chopped (She doesn't like this either, but I'll only accommodate so far)
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 package dry Italian salad dressing mix
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1 (20 0z.) package cheese tortellini

Brown hamburger in a large skillet with the onion, garlic and some salt and pepper.

Put the canned tomatoes in a blender and blend them up nice and smooth. If you like chunky tomatoes, you can leave this step out.

Put the meat, blended tomatoes and all other ingredients EXCEPT the tortellini and tomato soup in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, adding the tortellini and tomato soup the last 10 minutes or so. You could grate a little Parmesan over the top to serve. Serves 12

 

 

Olive Garden Toscana Soup

It's still very much soup weather here, although on the day you will read this post, we should be in the middle of a couple of days of "fake spring", where we'll be in the upper-50's and the bulbs in my yard will be feeling a little schizophrenic with that temperature and then then the return to colder weather that will follow. 

I like soup in cold weather and I usually make it once a week. This was last week's new recipe and it was really good and tastes even better when served in snowman bowls.....really.

Olive Garden Toscana Soup

• 1 1/2 cup spicy sausage links (I used a pound of Italian sausage links. You could use any "hotness" that you like.)
• 6 slices of bacon
• 3/4 cup diced onions
• 1 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 Tablespoons chicken base (This is a little different from chicken bouillon although I think bouillon would work. You might have to season the soup a little more. I find it in the bulk food section of my store)
• 1 Quart water
• 2 medium potatoes, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into 1/4" slices
• 2 cups kale leaves, cut in half, then sliced (I had some bagged baby spinach that I used instead. It's a little more tender than the kale.)
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place sausage links onto a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until done; cut into half lengthwise, then cut into 1/2" slices. Place onions and bacon in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions are almost clear. Add garlic and cook an additional 1 minute. Add chicken base, water and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes. Add sausage, kale and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve. Serves 5

Chocolate M&M Cookies

First off, Happy Birthday to this little guy. He's 2 today and I love him and miss him.

Next, these cookies are as sweet as my grandbaby. I sent some home in the car with LS Boy when he headed back down to school. I wonder if there were any left when he got there. They come from the Baked Perfection blog.

Chocolate M&M Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups M&M's 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in dry ingredients and then stir in M&M's. Drop by well-rounded Tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets. (I made mine a little smaller and cut the baking time by a couple of minutes. That way, I get more cookies.)

Bake for 11-13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes

We had these for breakfast several days ago and they were really tasty. Pears are still in season and we all like them, so this seemed like a good one to try.

Silver Dollar Pear Pancakes

• 2-3 large Bosc or Bartlett pears (I used Bartlett because that's what I'm used to working with)
• 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup, plus extra for serving
• 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• Buttermilk pancake batter--I just use the one in my basic Betty Crocker cookbook

Cut a little off the top of the pear and core and peel it. Starting at the bottom, slice pears crosswise into 1/8" thick rings and toss in a bowl with maple syrup and cinnamon.

Heat a griddle and lightly butter. Place a few pear slices on the griddle, about 2 1/2" apart and let them cook about a minute.

Ladle about 1/4 cup batter into the middle of each pear ring and gently push the batter over the edges of the pear. Let cook until pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, about 2 1/2 minutes.

Using a spatula, turn pancakes over; cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute more. Repeat with remaining pears and batter. Serve warm with syrup.

Creamy Chicken Tacos

Easiest thing ever to make. The meat mixture can be used in a variety of ways....in burritos, over chips as a kind of nacho or in tacos. The original recipe came from the Jamie Cooks it Up blog. I know some people have a problem with using condensed cream soup, but if you search in the internet, there are substitute recipes out there. The photo of this didn't turn out quite right, but I didn't have time to monkey with the white balance any more.

Creamy Chicken Tacos

• 5 frozen chicken breasts (yes, the original recipe says frozen, but I just couldn't do that. I thawed them a little)
• 1 1/2 cups salsa
• 2 cans cream soup (I used the low fat)
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 Tablspoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used light)

Spray the inside of your crock pot with cooking spray (or use a slow cooker liner), and place chicken inside. In a small mixing bowl, stir together everything else except the butter and sour cream. Pour the sauce over the top of the chicken. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours (or on low for 7-8). Take the chicken out and shred it. Put it back in the crock pot and add the butter and sour cream. Stir, cover and cook for 1 more hour.

Serve in tortillas or over chips  and top with tomatoes, onions, cheese, lettuce, avocado, salsa....whatever you want. This freezes well.