Cherry-Lemon Scones

This recipe came from the Sister's Cafe blog, and it was delicious! Perfect for breakfast with some scrambled eggs on a lazy Saturday morning.

Cherry-Lemon Scones

2 c. all purpose flour

¼ c. granulated white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ c. unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

½ c. dried cherries

Zest of 2 lemons

2/3 c. buttermilk

Egg mixture for brushing tops of scones:

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 Tb milk

white granulated sugar, for sprinkling the tops of the scones

OR after they are baked drizzle with lemon glaze

Glaze:Juice of one lemon

Powdered sugar--just keep spooning it into the juice until desired consistency for drizzling

Preheat oven to 400° and place rack in middle of oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray).In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the dried cherries and the lemon zest. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough.Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 1 ½ inches thick. Cut this circle in half, and then cut each half into 3-4 pie-shaped wedges. Place the scones on the baking sheet. Make an egg wash of one well-beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture. Sprinkle with raw sugar (if desired). Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Glaze if desired. Makes 6-8 scones.

BBQ Chicken Braid

This is another fabulous recipe from Melanie over at My Kitchen Cafe. We took one braid to a family with a new baby, and enjoyed the other ourselves. It was delicious, and so pretty! Serve with a nice green salad to round out the meal.

BBQ Chicken Braid
2 c. cooked chicken, chopped

1 ½ c. bbq sauce (we love Sweet Baby Ray's or Famous Dave's)

1 red onion, sliced

1 c. mozzarella, shredded

1 c. cheddar, shredded

1 recipe French bread rolls dough (recipe follows, I actually used my whole-wheat bread dough found here)

Roll ½ of dough after 1st rising into a 15 x 11 inch rectangle. Place on greased cookie sheet. Cut 1" wide strips on two sides of dough, leaving the middle third intact. Mix chicken with BBQ sauce. Spread 1/2 of chicken, onions, and cheeses along the middle. Alternating between sides, braid strips over filling (see photo below). Fold ends up and press so filling doesn't ooze out. Repeat with other ½ of dough and filling ingredients. Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes (makes 2 braids). I brushed butter on top after baking, though that wasn't in the original recipe. YUM!

French Bread Rolls
*Makes about one dozen rolls
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth (or greased saran wrap), and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake for 12-13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

Divine Breadsticks

This is another great recipe from Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe. These were fairly quick and really tasty! We had them with soup, and I froze half to have with pizza later in the week.

Divine Breadsticks

*Makes about 20-25 breadsticks, depending on how thick or thin you cut them

1 ½ cups warm water

1 tablespoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

3 ½ cups flour (I used half white, half white whole-wheat)

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted (for the baking sheet)

Mix all ingredients (except melted butter) in a large bowl or electric mixer and knead for three minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter onto an 11X17-inch baking sheet. Roll out the breadstick dough into a rectangle about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Twist slightly if desired and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet (I turned each breadstick over so both sides had butter on them). Sprinkle with garlic salt, herbs of choice (I used basil) and parmesan cheese. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Lion House Rolls

I have tried making rolls quite a few times over the last few years, and although they have sometimes turned out decent, I've never found any that I loved. Dustin's grandma makes fantastic rolls, and his dad makes good ones, too. But I've never had success duplicating their recipes. So I usually buy rolls. When I saw this recipe on My Kitchen Cafe, I had to try it. My search is over! They were buttery, soft, and delicious. And it makes 3 dozen, so you can freeze the extras and have great rolls all week!

Lion House Dinner Rolls

2 tablespoons active-dry yeast (I used instant yeast)

2 cups warm water

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 egg

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup nonfat dry milk

5-6 cups flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine yeast and water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, butter, salt, dry milk, 2 cups flour and egg. Beat together until very smooth. Add remaining flour gradually (about 1/2 cup at a time) until a soft but not sticky dough is formed. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until it is smooth and satiny (I did all this by hand because I killed my stand mixer kneading a double-batch of bread). Return dough to an oiled bowl and cover to let rise until doubled.Separate dough into three portions. Roll out each portion into a circle and cut into 12 pie-shaped pieces. Roll up crescent-style and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with saran wrap that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes - until nicely browned. Makes 3 dozen rolls.

*Freezable: Freeze the baked rolls in freezer-safe ziploc bags. You can microwave the frozen rolls (about 6 at a time) for 2 minutes before serving, or just thaw them at room temp ahead of time.

Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast & Maple Syrup

I added 2 tb. cinnamon-sugar and 1/2 c. raisins to my extra bread dough from making pizza crust, baked it up, and made this yummy french toast the next morning for breakfast. Of course you could also use store-bought cinnamon raisin bread. It was great!

Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast

1 loaf cinnamon-raisin bread

8 eggs

1/2 c. milk

2 tb. sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

butter

powdered sugar, for dusting

Beat eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Heat griddle and brush with butter. Dip each slice of bread in egg mixture and cook until lightly browned on both sides. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with warm maple syrup.

Want to make your own syrup? Here's a quick, easy, and delicious recipe:

Maple Syrup

4 c. white sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 c. water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp maple extract

Mix sugars and water in small saucepan. Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add vanilla and maple extracts. Cool. Store in refrigerator to prevent sugar crystals from forming.

Valentine's Day Feast

Around here we have our own Valentine's tradition: feed the kids dinner early (usually noodles or mac & cheese), put them to bed, and have a home-cooked feast and romantic movie at home. No baby-sitter, no crowds, and easier on the wallet. We enjoy it! We keep it simple so we don't have to slave away, but it's delish! We always have Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits, salad with tiny shrimp, and steak & seafood. This year we accompanied it with Welch's Sparkling Red Grape Cider (sometimes we do Pina Coladas) and chocolates for dessert. Dustin had seared scallops with a rib-eye steak, I had scallops and steamed snow crab legs. Here's the recipe for the biscuits:

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tb. baking powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 c. cold butter

1/2 c. milk

1 c. cheddar cheese, grated

2 tb. butter, melted

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. parsley

pinch salt

Mix flour, 1/2 tsp salt, baking powder, and 1/4 tsp garlic powder. Using 2 knives or a pastry blender (or your hands, like me), cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the milk, then the cheese. You can either roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 " thickness and cut with round cookie cutters, or just drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet in 12 equal portions (I do the latter). Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, mix 2 tb. melted butter, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, parsley and pinch of salt. Remove biscuits from oven, and immediately brush butter mixture over tops, using it all. Eat while still warm.

Y'all in Mississippi Now!

Don't even ask about the title of this post- you had to be there! Anyway, this is a tribute to my southern relatives- a true southern down-home meal that even Paula Deen would be proud of. It consisted of Buttermilk Baked Chicken (a recipe I got off another foodie blog, I can't remember which one), Fried Okra (awesome, if you've never tried it you just have to. Incidentally it's the only way to properly eat okra in my opinion. We grew some in our garden a few years back and tried alternate recipes, and trust me, don't bother- it's slimy and disgusting prepared any other way), Super-sweet Cornbread, and some fabulous heirloom tomatoes we got at the farmer's market (ummm- ok, I made this in the summer, obviously there are no tomatoes now. Sorry I'm a little slow on the posting!). YUMMY!

Buttermilk Baked Chicken

8 slices bread, processed into coarse crumbs

1 c. buttermilk (I use milk + 1 tb. lemon juice, let it sit a minute)

1 tsp. Tabasco

salt and pepper

3/4 c. Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. dried thyme

4 lbs. dark chicken parts (I used 2 lbs. boneless skinless breasts instead)

In 1 bowl, mix buttermilk, tabasco, salt and pepper. Place chicken parts in bowl, turning to coat (I let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to marinate, but you don't have to). In 2nd bowl, mix breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and thyme. Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk mixture and dredge in the breadcrumb mixture. Place on a well-greased baking sheet or large pan, making sure they don't touch. Bake at 400 degrees until chicken is golden brown and done in the center, about 35 minutes.

Fried Okra

1 bag frozen sliced okra (or fresh if you can find it)

flour

salt and pepper

egg

milk

vegetable or canola oil, for frying

Heat about 2 inches of oil in a large pan to 350. Mix an egg or two with a little milk in one bowl, and the flour with a little salt and pepper in another. Dip okra slices first in egg, then in flour. Fry until golden brown, drain on paper towels. Mmm, delish!

Super-sweet Cornbread

I'm not a fan of the really grainy cornbread, so this recipe really suits me- it has equal parts flour and cornmeal, and lots of sugar. Really more like a cupcake than a corn muffin! Delish!

1/2 c. butter

2/3 c. sugar

1 c. cornmeal

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. buttermilk (I use 1 c. milk + 1 tb. lemon juice)

2 eggs

Melt butter. Beat in sugar and eggs. Combine buttermilk and baking soda, stir in. Add cornmeal, flour, and salt. Pour into greased 8 x 8 " pan or 12 muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees about 30 minutes (20-25 for muffins), or until done in center. You can double the recipe to make a 9 x 13 " pan full.

Pizza & Breadsticks, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, and Chili Rellenos!

Okay, I have to catch up before I post my more recent recipes. So sorry they are all clumped together. The above picture is some pizza and breadsticks I made with the 100% whole-wheat bread dough (recipe below a few posts). They were delicious! For the pizza, I used about 1/3 of the dough, rolled it into a 15" circle on my pizza stone, topped it with 1 c. sauce, 2 c. mozzerella, and toppings. I baked it for about 15 minutes at 425. The breadsticks I just rolled another 1/3 dough into a large rectangle, cut into strips with my pizza cutter, and brushed with butter/garlic salt/parmesan mixture and then baked until done. I used the other 1/3 dough to make a small loaf of bread.

This is the delish cake the kids made me for my birthday (with my supervision, of course). I got the recipe from my new favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen. The recipe calls for rum, but you can just leave it out and it still turns out great! Oh, yeah, she hates the bright red cherry thing, so she didn't do that, but I like them so I added them back in.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Topping:

1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored (I used 1 can pineapple slices)

3/4 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
Batter:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon dark rum

1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice (saved from pineapple can)

2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake
Special equipment: A well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet. If you lack a cast-iron skillet of this size, make the caramel in a small pot and scrape it into the bottom of a similarly-sized cake pan. (I used a 9″ cake pan in the pictures above, do not use springform, it will leak!)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make topping: Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly.
Make batter: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.) Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet five minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack. Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

Both Dustin and I love Mexican food, and we both agree that although we like tacos, enchiladas, and the likes, our very favorite is chile rellenos (stuffed green chiles). However, the varieties found at some restaurants (actually most of them around here) are sadly lacking. They most often consist of a smallish chile and some cheese wrapped in humongous amounts of an eggy batter, fried, and then soaked in red enchilada sauce until soggy. Yuck! Nothing like the lightly breaded, slightly crispy rellenos that really let the smoky flavor of fire-roasted chiles shine through. So we make our own. I adapted this recipe from Mrs. Grigg's Cookbook.

Chile Rellenos

10-15 large whole skinned fire-roasted Anaheim chiles (canned or fresh*)

colby-jack, cheddar, or jack cheese, sliced into strips about 1/4" by 3"

2 eggs

1/4 c. milk

flour

salt and pepper

vegetable oil, for frying

Heat oil (about 1" deep) in a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Rinse seeds out of chiles, pat dry. Place one strip of cheese in each chile. Mix eggs and milk in one bowl, and flour with a little salt and pepper in another bowl. Dip each chile in egg mixture, then flour mixture, then egg again, and flour again. Slide carefully into hot oil. Fry about 4-5 at a time until golden, turn over and fry until golden on second side. Remove with tongs onto a plate lined with paper towels. Fry remaining chiles, eat and enjoy! I usually serve them with refried beans and either corn or spanish rice, along with some quesadillas for the kids.

*If you want to roast your own chiles, choose large straight ones. Using either a gas burner or a grill, roast the whole chiles over a hot fire until completely black, turning to roast all sides. Wrap chiles in a damp kitchen towel, and allow to steam for 10-15 minutes. Peel off black skin and remove top and seeds.

A Little Slice of Heaven (Homemade Bread)!

I have always been intimidated by baking bread. It's one of those things, like pie crust, that people think is hard to do right. But we are eating so much bread lately (about 4 loaves/week) that I figured I better learn. I will only feed my family whole-grain bread, and that gets expensive! It is a little tricky, but now that I've done it and had it turn out great, I have an opinion on why it's known for it's difficulty: the wrong ingredients. Seriously, I really think it's that simple. This bread is 100% whole wheat, and unlike most homemade whole-grain breads, it is NOT a brick! On the contrary, it is fabulous- light, soft, fluffy, and delicious. It slices easily, so it's perfect for sandwiches. If you have any left. We devour it warm by itself or with butter and jam, and hope there's some left for sandwiches. The secrets I've learned: vital wheat gluten, new instant (or rapid-rise or bread-machine) yeast, and the right whole-wheat flour are essential. The flour I've always gotten is too coarse and weighs the bread down. You've gotta find a really fine flour, and I especially like soft white spring wheat flour (as opposed to hard red winter wheat, which if it doesn't specify, it probably is). The kind I found I like is Wheat Montana Prairie Gold Whole-Wheat Flour ). I got it at Wal-mart. A 5 lb. bag will make about 6 loaves of bread. You can usually find the gluten by the yeast. Enjoy!
100% Whole Wheat Fluffy Homemade Bread
Mix together:
3 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. vital wheat gluten
1 heaping tb. instant yeast
Mix in:
2 1/2 c. hot tap water
Mix for one minute, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes (this is called sponging).
Now mix in:
1/3 c. oil (I use canola)
1/2 c. honey or sugar
1 tb. lemon juice
1 tb. salt
1 egg
1 tb. flax seed, optional
Lastly, add in:
2 to 2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, a little at a time.
Dump dough onto your counter. Only add enough flour that your dough is barely not sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes by hand, or until the dough feels nice and elastic (you could also use a mixer for all this if you want- I use my Bosch and only knead for about 5 minutes). Heat your oven for 1 minute to warm it for rising, then turn it off. Divide dough in half, roll into 2 logs. Place dough in large greased loaf pans, then flip and kind of flatten the dough and squish it into the corners of the pan. Place in warm oven to rise about 30-45 minutes, or until it rises just about an inch over the top of the pans. If you let it rise too much, it may cave in when you bake it. When risen, turn on oven to 350 degrees, set timer to bake for 30 minutes. When finished, remove from pans, brush top with butter for a soft crust, and let cool for 1-2 hours before slicing (if you can stand it!). Freezes well, but slice it first and wrap it well.
Makes 2 loaves.

*You can also use this recipe for rolls, cinnamon rolls, or cinnamon raisin bread. YUM! If you want to use the dough for pizza, this amount makes enough for 3- 15" crusts.

Beautiful Brown Bananas

Most things are bad when they go bad, right? Except bananas! When bananas get over-ripe you can make the yummiest things! My 2 favorite things to make for snacks (or breakfast) when my bananas go brown are banana bread and chocolate-banana milk. I actually make banana pancakes, too, but I haven't made those in a while, so I don't have a pic. I have had many banana bread recipes over the years, but this is my favorite. Dustin brought some home that an old lady patient of his had made, and it was the best I'd ever had, so I told him he had to get the recipe. The secret is butter instead of oil, and 4 bananas instead of the typical 3. When I only have 1 or 2, I make chocolate-banana milk, my own recipe.

Best Banana Bread

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter

4 mashed bananas

2 eggs

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

pinch salt

3 tb. buttermilk (I mix 3 tb. milk and 1/2 tsp. lemon juice and let it sit a few minutes)

Cream butter and sugar. Add bananas and eggs. Add dry ingredients, then buttermilk. Pour into greased loaf pans (1 large, 3 small, or 24 muffins). Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes (large pan). 3 small pans takes about 25-35 minutes, muffins take about 20-25 minutes.

Chocolate Banana Milk

4 c. milk

1-2 bananas

chocolate syrup (as much as you like)

Mix all in blender until smooth. Serves 4. YUM!