Balkan Marinade:
3/4 cup
For Lamb or Pork. Do not let the meat marinade for longer than 2 hours.
Crush together in a bowl:
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Wisk in:
Grated zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
We cut the lamb into one inch cubes, put them in a zip top bag in the fridge and let them marinate. Once ready to cook, thread them onto soaked wood skewers. Grill about 8-12 minutes total.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 loaf Texas Toast bread (extra thick slices)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half and half cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture onto large jelly roll pan (18 x13 x1). Spread to cover the surface. Place 12 slices of Texas Toast bread in a single layer to cover pan. Mix together eggs, cream, salt and vanilla. Spoon mixture over each piece of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Remove from pan and serve. If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over (this will prevent bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan). Makes 12 servings.
Mix above ingredients together and set aside. (There will be enough seasoning for a couple of batches of snack mix and enough left over for seasoning on meat, salads, etc.)
Pre-heat oven to 350°
In a large metal baking pan, mix the following:
4 cups honey-roasted peanuts
16 ounces salty mini pretzels (or pretzel sticks)
16 ounces of Cheez-It crackers (use a mix of cheddar, white cheddar, etc)
16 ounces oyster crackers
12 ounces corn oil
6 tablespoons Seasoning (from above)
Stir well until each piece is coated. Bake in oven for 6 minutes. Remove and stir again. Bake another 6 minutes. Let cool.
3/4 cup Butter, softened
3 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
8 drops Green Food Coloring
Ganache Topping:
3/4 cup Butter
2 1/4 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray
Brownies:
Whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder.
Then add sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla and salt.
Mix well, then add sifted flour. Stir by hand. Do not over mix.
Pour into greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes.
Cool for a few minutes and then place in freezer for 20 minutes. Mint Frosting:
While brownies are in the freezer make the first layer of topping.
Mix the mint frosting ingredients thoroughly.
Evenly frost brownies and put back in freezer for 20 minutes.
Ganache Topping:
Melt the butter and chocolate and whisk together.
Drizzle warm chocolate over brownies and spread smooth with a spatula.
Put back in the freezer for another 20 minutes.
TEXAS ROAD HOUSE SWEET YEAST ROLLS –
From the trainer for all the bakers of the Texas Roadhouse chain (so they say)
1/2 sol. oz. cake of yeast or 1 pkg. active dry yeast (next time I think I will use 1 1/2 packets)
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk- scalded and cooled to lukewarm
3 tablespoons of melted butter – cooled
1/2 cup sugar
2 quarts all purpose flour
2 whole eggs
2 tsp. salt
Soften yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar.
Add yeast, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter. Beat thoroughly. Let stand until light and foamy.
Add melted butter, eggs and salt. Beat well. Add enough flour to form soft dough. Sprinkle small amount of flour on counter and let dough rest.
Meanwhile, clean and dry bowl; grease clean surface of bowl. Knead dough until smooth and satiny. Put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in bulk.
Punch down. Turn out on floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes.
Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise until doubled.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown). Baste immediately with butter.
Yield: 5 to 6 dozen (depending on the size – I made mine kind of big and got about 3 dozen)
My tips (most of you know the level of cook/baker I am = novice, so some of these will sound like common sense, bear with me!
Scald the milk first so you don’t have to wait around for it to cool back down.
My friend “C” who sent me the link to this recipe said 2 quarts flour = roughly 8 cups. I used about 8 also.
I made mine in my Bosch, so only mixed it on level 1 for 5 minutes. I’ll probably mix it a little longer next time.
Each raising will take about one hour.
Cut straight when making the portions. I ended up with kid sized and adult sized rolls {wink}.
This recipe took about four hours to make from start to finish.
This is one of my favorite fall and winter crockpot soup.
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, cut up
1/4 cup butter
1 packet Lipton Savory Herb with Garlic
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
3 cups water
Put chicken, butter, Lipton soup mix and 1 cup of water into crockpot and cook on low for six hours. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour on top of chicken, mix, cook for one hour more.
See, super easy and delicious! Really delicious with some hot out of the oven bread too.
I only wish that I had come up with this recipe, I found this recipe and it’s to DIE FOR! Give it a try…. Make them and tell me what you think….
Chocolate Ganache Cupakes
adapted from Ina Garten’s Chocolate Ganache Cupcake recipe
makes 12 regular cupcakes or 24 mini cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 16 ounce can Hershey’s chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
for the chocolate ganache:
melt together
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
for the white chocolate ganache:
melt together
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until combined. Scoop the batter into muffin cups (we used my mini cheesecake pan) and bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until set. Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the ganache and let set on a wire rack.
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 1-inch center-cut pork loin chops
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (from a couple of sprigs), chopped
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup chicken stock or broth
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat for the chops. Add 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil to the pan. Season chops with salt and pepper, then add to hot skillet. Cook the chops for 5 minutes on each side.
Transfer the chops to a platter and cover with foil. Return the pan to the heat and add remaining tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil, and chopped onions, thyme, rosemary and garlic, then saute for 4 to 5 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, honey, and chicken stock. Cook until liquids have been reduced by half.
Once glaze has reduced by half, turn off the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of cold butter. Stir until butter has melted into the glaze. Add the chops back into the pan and coat them with the glaze.
*I found this recipe in Rachel Ray’s book 365: No Repeats, page 54 and made some tweaks to it.
Cook first 13 ingredients for 45 minutes with one gallon water. Then add remaining ingredients. Simmer several hours until the barley is tender.
Source:“Della Fontana Restaurant”
Yield: 9 quarts
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon 100% pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins
1 bag (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine: flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture slowly; mix well. Add raisins and chocolate chips; mix well. Use a cookie scoop and drop dough onto cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely
1 quart bottled tomatoes
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1 6 ounce tomato paste
1 14 ounce chicken broth
1 cup cream or half & half (pick your poison!)
To Taste:
Basil
onion salt
garlic powder
Pour bottled tomatoes into blender, add tomato paste and crushed garlic. Blend until smooth, then slowly add chicken broth while still blending. Pour into pot, add any extra spices you would like, bring to boil, then reduce down to simmer. Cook down to desired thickness. Add cream or half and half just before serving and stir well.
2 tablespoons oil
3 pounds cubed chicken
1 large chopped onion
2 cups cubed potato
2 carrots, peeled & chopped
2/3 cup Masaman Curry Paste
1 can chicken stock
4 cups coconut milk
1 cup cashews
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup palm sugar
1/4 cup Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoons tamarind paste
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime
Heat the oil in a large heavy Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the chicken and onion and sauté until the onion is translucent and the chicken lightly browned. Add the potato, carrots and curry paste and sauté for a minute. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Boil for five minutes. Add the coconut milk, cinnamon, cashews, palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind paste, and lime juice. Simmer for ten minutes. Serve immediately, or cool to room temperature and refrigerate for up to 36 hours. Reheat by gently simmering for 10-15 minutes before serving.
10 cups Quick rolled oats
1 cup coconut
3 cups chopped nuts (Walnuts or slivered Almonds)
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups canola oil
½ cup honey
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups raisins or dried cranberries.
Mix first three items in large bowl. Then put brown sugar, water, oil, honey, salt, cinnamon and vanilla in sauce pan. Heat until dissolved ( DO NOT BOIL) pour over dry ingredients and stir well, spread out onto two jelly roll pans and bake @ 300 degrees for 20 Minutes each tray. While cooling put in 1 ½ cups of raisins or dried cranberries on each tray and stir. Let cool then place in air tight container.
1/2 cup sugar
1 cube margarine
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup HOT water
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons yeast in 1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 cups flour
Mix sugar, margarine, salt and hot water together until margarine is melted. Add eggs, yeast with water, and 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth, then add remaining flour. Let rise one hour.
To cook: portion out in roll sizes, flatten and deep fry until golden brown. Serve with honey butter!
*Can be kept in the refrigerator for several days.
I adapted these from a Libby’s recipe from their site. The original recipe had walnuts, but no chocolate chips.
Great Pumpkin Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon 100% pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup raisins
1 bag (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine: flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl.
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla; mix well
Add flour mixture slowly; mix well
Add raisins and chocolate chips; mix well
Use a cookie scoop and drop dough onto cookie sheet
Bake for 12-14 minutes
Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely.
March 13, 2011
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