Recipes

Recipe Exchange: Sunday Pot Roast, Instant Pot and Slow-Cooker Versions

by TaMara (HFG)| January 26, 20206:06 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: Food, Food & Recipes, Friday Recipe Exchange, Recipes, yes, I know your recipe is always better than mine

In my quest to update some of my older recipes for Instant Pot style cooking, here is one of my favorites. I love being able to set this up and an hour and a half later have a perfectly cooked pot roast – tender and flavorful – along with all the sides.

Sunday Pot Roast

4 lbs Pot Roast (chuck roast)
¼ cup good whiskey (or red wine)
¼ cup beef broth or water (more if needed)
1 tsp rosemary
2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
½ tsp salt & pepper
1 large onion, quartered
6 medium potatoes, quartered
1 lb bag baby carrots

slow-cooker or Instant Pot

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Instant Pot (or in my case, Multi-Pot)

Coat roast in 1 tbsp of flour. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the pan on the saute setting and then add roast. Brown lightly on all sides. Add liquid, rosemary, bay leaves, salt, pepper and onion.

Cover and cook on meat setting for 1 hour. Use the quick pressure release method, and when pressure is relieved, open (carefully) and add potatoes and carrots. Bring back to pressure and cook for 20 minutes. This keeps the vegetables from overcooking.

Gravy – I usually cheat a bit on the gravy. I remove meat and veggies, and then I take 1/2 cup of beef broth and mix with 1 tbsp of flour, stirring well. I then bring the beef juices (about 1 cup, if more, you’ll need more flour) to a boil on the saute setting and stir in the flour mixture, stirring at a boil until thickened. Then I turn the heat off and let simmer for 5 minutes (it will remain hot for that amount of time). Not as tasty as a gravy started with a roux, but it does the trick and you’ll never have lumps.

Slow-Cooker Recipe:

Optional: coat roast in 1 tbsp flour and brown on all sides in 1 tbsp oil in a skillet before adding to slow-cooker. Nice, but not necessary for great flavor.

Add roast & liquid to slow-cooker. Sprinkle rosemary, bay leaves, salt & pepper on top of roast. Add in order: onion, potatoes and carrots (this keeps carrots from overcooking). Cover & cook according to your slow-cooker directions (they vary considerably) usually 8 to 10 hours on low.

Gravy – When I use a slow-cooker, I usually cheat a bit on the gravy. I remove meat and veggies, and then I take ½ cup of beef broth and mix with 1 tbsp of flour, stirring well. I then bring the beef juices (about 1 cup, if more, you’ll need more flour) in the slow-cooker to a boil (high setting on slow-cooker) and stir in the flour mixture, stirring at a boil until thickened. Then I reduce the heat back to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Not as tasty as a gravy started with a roux, but it does the trick and you’ll never have lumps.

The original recipe is featured in the Summer to Fall Cookbook

What’s on your menu tonight? I’m sure everyone has a favorite pot roast recipe, let’s hear it. This is the place to talk about all your favorite recipes.

Also, 0pen thread

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Hanukkah 2019: A Festival of Lights in Food

by Adam L Silverman| December 22, 20198:17 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Food, Food & Recipes, Open Threads, Recipes

My family has just left. I’m exhausted. I’ve been cleaning and cooking since about 11 AM this morning. Though I did my baking last night.

One of the butcher shops in the area where I get meat and chicken from regularly has grass fed beef short ribs for a reasonable price. Since my brother, sister in law, twelve year old twin nephews (begun, the clone war, has), and my Mom were coming, I bought two cryovac packs of the beef short ribs. Which is four racks of three ribs each. And I smoked them. Except for one rack, which I did in the oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit because the Mominator doesn’t eat smoked meat, chicken, turkey, etc. I also made latkes. The Mominator made her arugula and beet salad with goat cheese and avocado. And I made a no sugar added, sweetened only with agave pecan pie cheese cake. Pictures of everything but the salad below because I didn’t get a chance to take one before people started dishing it out. Once I hit publish, I’m going to collapse. And it has been raining steadily since last night, so I had to do this on the enclosed and screened in back patio, which is why my house smells like BBQ pit.

Here’s the rack of ribs that I did in the oven. They’ve, as well as the other three racks, been minimally prepped. I removed the silver skin, then liberally kosher salted and freshly cracked black peppered the four racks. Then I wrapped them in paper towels, sealed them up in a very large tupperware tub, and left them in the fridge to form a pelicule for 48 hours. What you see below is how the meat looked just before going in the oven and on the grill. You can see the other racks wrapped up behind it just waiting to go out.

And here are the other racks just placed on the grill and before I put the lid down.

I don’t have a dedicated smoker, so I did the 60/40 approach. Or 70/30. The coals went on the far right near the bottom vent, once they’d burned almost to white the apple wood chunks went on. The ribs went on the rest of the grill with an aluminum pan full of water below it to help moderate the heat, keep everything moist, and catch drippings. I inserted a wired, probe thermometer into the deepest portion of the largest rack, then I dropped the lid, adjusted the air vents, and let them smoke slowly at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. From about 1 PM to 5:30 PM.

They came out perfect!

Smoky, juicy, tender, and perfectly cooked!

I modified the latke recipe I learned from my Dad a bit. First, I made sure not to include any knuckle blood from grating my hands instead of the potatoes on the box grater! Then, instead of grating all the potatoes, I grated half and boiled and mashed half. I then mixed the mashed and grated potatoes with one large onion diced finely, salt and pepper to taste, and let the mixture sit in the fridge covered for about an hour before I made the latkes. I pan fried them in about a 1/4 inch of oil in a high sided 12 inch diameter pan on the stovetop.

Here’s the mixture pre latke formation:

And here’s the first batch frying in the pan:

And here’s a beef rib and some latkes all plated up:

Finally, we have the cheesecake. The crust is made with Kedem vanilla tea biscuits, which have very little sugar (it was about the least amount I could find that didn’t have sugar alcohols). I ground up one package, mixed it with melted butter, and formed it into the cheesecake crust/base. The cheesecake is just my standard cheesecake recipe, with one modification – no white sugar. Instead I used half a cup of agave. The recipe is below.

Cheesecake:

Ingredients

3 8 ounce packages of cream cheese.

3 eggs

8 ounces of sour cream

Vanilla to taste

1/2 cup of dark brown agave (add more if you want it a bit sweeter). And if you don’t have an issue with sugar, just use one cup of white sugar.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a spring form pan. Whip the cream cheese and the eggs together one package of cream cheese and one egg at a time until combined and smooth. Add the sour cream and whip until incorporated and smooth. Add the vanilla and the agave and whip until incorporated and smooth. Cover and refrigerate.

For this cheesecake, I wanted something a bit different. And since I didn’t get to make or have pecan pie on Thanksgiving as my Thanksgiving this year was whacked (don’t ask, I did a good deed for someone, but it meant I got none of the traditional foods, and I wasn’t feeling particularly well either), I decided to pecan pie my cheesecake. In a high sided sauté pan I melted a stick of unsalted butter. Then I added agave to taste and brought it to a boil. I then added 3/4 of a cup of heavy whipping cream, whisked everything together, and added a cup and a half of pecans. Stirring the entire time to both thoroughly coat the pecans and to keep the pan caramel from scorching. Once everything was turning golden brown, I took it off the heat, arranged the candied pecans on top of the crust, poured the cheesecake batter on top, and then swirled the warm caramel into the cheesecake batter. Once that was done, it went right into the oven for an hour. At the end of the hour I turned the oven off, cracked the oven door open, and let the cheesecake cool in the oven for an hour. The third hour it spent cooling on the counter and then when that hour was up it went into the fridge. The pictures are below. And before someone from NoLa (cough, lamh, cough) says something, yes, this is more like a pecan praline cheesecake than a pecan pie cheesecake.

Here’s the pecans and caramel setting up:

And here are the candied pecans layered on the pie crust:

The batter in the pan with the caramel swirled in:

The cheesecake ready for serving:

And, finally, a slice of the cheesecake!

If I had to do one thing differently, and I will for next time, it is that I’m going to lightly chop the pecans and swirl them into the cheesecake with the caramel rather than layer them on the bottom. That one issue aside, it tasted amazing! You’d never know there was no white sugar in it.

So everyone who celebrates have a happy and healthy Hanukkah! If I don’t do a post tomorrow, I’ll be covering on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as I won’t be celebrating, but I am going for Thai food.

I’m exhausted, so I’m going to crash. Though not quite this tired!

I may or may not check into the comments later.

Open thread

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Recipe Exchange: Thanksgiving Food Coma, Anyone?

by TaMara (HFG)| November 24, 20197:07 pm| 47 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Recipes, yes, I know your recipe is always better than mine

It’s that time of year again here in the United States, when we sit around a large table, stuff our faces and argue politics and religions. Remember, the people you piss off at Thanksgiving are people you won’t need to buy Christmas gifts for in December. ?

In anticipation of the big day, here are the links to all the Thanksgiving recipes and my still favorite way to roast a turkey. I prepped one last night, the hour-plus cooking time takes much of the stress out of turkey roasting. My Thanksgiving is going to be a bit different this year, so I wanted to make sure I had leftover turkey.

I’m also thinking this may be this year’s Christmas Eve party menu. We’ll see. And starting in December, I’ll be posting food gift recipes, just in time for your cookie platters and tins.

From 2015:

This is the only way I’ve been preparing turkey since my first attempt. The only thing I changed up from that first time I prepared it, I skip the metal rack and instead place the bird on a bed of carrots, celery and onion. With the shorter cooking time, the flavor needs the boost the roasting veggies add. The brown sugar not only helps brown the skin, it also adds a yummy, unexpected flavor.

Sometimes the scariest part of the Thanksgiving Dinner is the worry that the turkey will not turn out properly – undercooked, overcooked, dry, flavorless – and ruin the whole meal. I’ve cooked in bags, roasted, braised, fried, deboned – about everything but brine. I’m not a fan of brining. And still every year I worry.

This year I decided to try removing the backbone and flattening the bird, cooking it at a high temperature for a shorter cooking time. It was pretty foolproof, stress-free, and the bird turned out great.

BTW, my recommendation is to always get two smaller birds instead of one massive bird – you’ll have a much better outcome with shorter cooking times. Not to mention not having to worry about fitting a huge bird in the oven. We usually do an oven bird, then grill, smoke or fry another.

For this recipe, a good set of poultry shears makes quick work of removing the backbone. I prepped the bird yesterday, wrapped it up and refrigerated it. This gave me time to make a nice broth from the backbone, giblets and neck last night (see notes below) and make the cranberry sauce, because it’s always better the next day.

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Roasted Spatchcock Turkey

1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Kosher salt
4 tablespoons dried sage
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 whole turkey (10-14 pounds)
4 tablespoons olive oil

Rimmed baking sheet, rack

In a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, crush together pepper, salt, sage and rosemary and add to brown sugar. Set aside.

With a sharp knife or scissors, remove the backbone of the turkey, flip over and press down on the breast bone to break and flatten. I wasn’t quite strong enough, so I turned the bird over, scored the bone, flipped it back and tried again, this time it broke easily. I then trimmed off the wing tips. See my notes below on what to do with the back and wing tips.

Place the bird flat, breast side up, on the rack in the baking sheet. Make a paste with spices and olive oil. Rub with spice mix and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Roast for 15 minutes, and then reduced temperature to 375 degrees F. Cook an additional hour or until the temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 160 degrees. Remove from the oven, tent with foil and let rest for 15 minutes (during this time the bird temperature will reach 165 degrees and thighs should be 175 degrees).

Carve and serve.

NOTES: I took the back, wing tips, neck and giblets, covered them with water and simmered them for about an hour. I then used the broth for both the stuffing and gravy. I also cooked the stuffing in the oven, in a baking dish, uncovered, with the turkey after I have turned the oven down to 375. They finished up about the same time.

This is a great technique for wood grilling or smoking. I have grilled one on my wood pellet grill and it turned out great.

More Recipes: We have a bunch, a peck, a bushel, of Thanksgiving recipes, including my favorite Upside-Down Cranberry Cake (here), No-Boil Mashed Potatoes (here), and Non-Traditional Sides (here), click on this link for all the other recipes or search by name or ingredient in the search box at the bottom of the blog.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! – TaMara

Just an FYI (shameless plug) next year there will be another seasonal cookbook featuring holiday recipes. Summer to Fall Cookbook is still available with a lot of useful menus to get you through winter.

Now it’s your turn. What are your Thanksgiving plans? What food must absolutely be on the table for your Thanksgiving dinner? What is your least favorite? And of course, share some of your favorite, super-secret family recipes!

Recipe Exchange: Thanksgiving Food Coma, Anyone?Post + Comments (47)

Friday Recipe Exchange: Hearty Tomato Soup and Recipe Fails

by TaMara (HFG)| October 11, 20197:47 pm| 143 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Recipes

JeffreyW’s tasty tomato soup and grilled cheese

Since we witnessed a 70-degree temperature drop here yesterday, soup had to be on the menu. And since I have a counter full of ripe tomatoes, tomato soup sounded good. This is not your basic canned soup and grilled cheese. These recipes are tasty, hearty and easy to whip up. And the flax cookies are addictive. If you’re using an Instant-Style Pot, I have instructions for that at the bottom of the soup recipe.

On the board:

Hearty Tomato Soup
Totally Awesome Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, recipe here
Flax Cookies, recipe here

Hearty Tomato Soup

28 oz canned or fresh tomatoes*
1 tsp crushed garlic
8 oz carrots
2 stalks celery
3 green onions, including greens
1 tsp basil
¼ tsp oregano
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups milk
2 tbsp whole wheat flour

2-quart saucepan, blender

In a blender, mix tomatoes, garlic, carrots, celery & onions. Blend until smooth. In saucepan, combine tomato mixture with spices, heat over medium heat, stirring constantly. Let bubble (don’t let boil or use high heat, it will scorch) for 5 minutes. Add flour to cold milk, blend until smooth, add to soup. Let bubble again, reduce to low heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Instant Pot instructions: In a blender, mix tomatoes, garlic, carrots, celery & onions. Blend until smooth. In the instant pot, combine tomato mixture with spices. Cover and cook on soup setting for 10 minutes. In a measuring cup (or use blender) add flour to cold milk, blend until smooth,

Use the quick depressurize method, soup should still be bubbling. add milk mixture to soup and whisk in until thickened. If you need to bring it back up to temperature, I use the saute feature, stirring constantly until thickened (about a minute), don’t let scorch. Turn heat off (or to warm setting) and cover until ready to serve.

*you can use fire-roasted tomatoes for added flavor. I have fire-roasted tomatoes tucked away in the freezer for future batches.

These Flax Cookies are addictive

(This menu and recipes are featured in my cookbook: What’s 4 Dinner Solutions Cookbooks: Summer into Fall)

_________________________________________________________________

What’s on your plate this weekend?

I had a request to ask if you wanted to share your biggest recipe disasters. Did you serve it anyway or just toss it?

I’ve had a couple of notable failures, including pulling out the powdered sugar instead of potato starch to thicken a spicy veggie soup. Sigh. No way to save that one.

Hit the comments with your recipes, meals, and disasters…

Here’s one of my favorite recipe fails, the end is priceless:

Friday Recipe Exchange: Hearty Tomato Soup and Recipe FailsPost + Comments (143)

Friday Recipe Exchange: Pasta w/Marinated Vegetable and Bruschetta

by TaMara (HFG)| September 6, 20197:14 pm| 58 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Recipes

JeffreyW has his own take on Bruschetta here and here

I’m not ready to jump into fall just yet. My garden is slowing down, but my tomatoes are still flourishing. I’ve been turning my bounty into frozen packets of fire-roasted tomatoes to be used for soups and sauces when the weather cools a bit. As I put this together on Thursday, the temp outside was 80 degrees at 9 pm. Summer isn’t heading to the exits anytime soon.

Every Thursday in the What’s 4 Dinner Solutions Cookbook, there is a travelogue of sorts. Menus with flavors from all over the world. In the summer, it’s various regions of the states and the fresh produce available. Tonight, it’s a New England Farmers’ Market kinda night.

On the board:

MENU
Pasta w/ Marinated Vegetables (recipe below)
Tomato & Olive Oil Bruschetta (recipe here)
Grapes

Pasta w/Marinated Vegetables

10 oz Rotini pasta
1 tray ice cubes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small eggplant, peeled & chopped
4 mushrooms, sliced
2 zucchini, sliced
10 to12 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
6 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 red onion, sliced in rings
2 oz black olives
8 oz Italian or Caesar dressing (more if needed)
2 oz grated parmesan

saucepan
skillet
bowl
serving bowl

In saucepan, cook pasta according to package directions, drain, rinse in cold water and toss with ice cubes. Set aside and let cubes melt.

While pasta is cooking, in skillet, heat oil and sauté eggplant, mushrooms and zucchini.

Remove and cool in the refrigerator while preparing remaining vegetables.

In bowl, toss remaining vegetables with dressing.

Remove any un-melted ice cubes from pasta, and toss with all vegetables once they are cold.

Add cheese, more dressing if needed, and serve.

As always, omit or substitute anything you don’t like. This one is especially easy to adapt to your flavor palate.

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What’s on your menu this weekend? Earlier this week Alain posted his great instructions for roasting chiles and he mentioned having a vacuum sealer. That’s on my wishlist – anyone have any suggestions?

Okay, hit the comments with your recipe shares!

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Friday Recipe Exchange: Garden Fresh

by TaMara (HFG)| August 23, 20198:51 pm| 23 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Food & Recipes, Recipes

Oh, boy, recipes two weeks in a row, we might be starting something here.

I spent the afternoon taking care of some fresh veggies that had been sitting on my counter all week. I love this time of year, when the garden provides harvest every morning. But it is difficult to keep up. Today I fire-roasted tomatoes, pureed and froze for soups and sauces this winter. I also did refrigerator jalapeno pickles to use up a few of the many jalapenos.

JeffreyW does some amazing recipes with his peppers, here are two: Candied Jalapenos (here) and Hot ‘n Sweet (here)

Tonight’s menu takes advantage of all the garden-fresh ingredients available now. I really like this one because it’s a quick skillet taste treat that elevates a weeknight meal.

On the board tonight:

MENU
Skillet Lasagna (recipe below)
Patty Squash Sauté (recipe here)
Italian Bread
Cherries

Skillet Lasagna

6 oz Mafalda (mini-lasagna noodles) or bowtie pasta
1 lb lean ground beef****
½ onion, chopped
½ green pepper chopped
1 tsp basil, crushed
1 tsp oregano, crushed
1 tsp crushed garlic
salt & pepper to taste
1 carrot, diced
15 oz can tomato sauce (or 1 lb fresh tomatoes, chopped or pureed)
6 oz can tomato paste
4 oz ricotta cheese
1 cup fresh spinach leaves, chopped
4 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 oz grated parmesan

skillet
saucepan

In saucepan, cook pasta according to package directions, cooking to al dente (slightly chewy), drain well. Meanwhile, in skillet brown beef, onion & pepper. Add spices, garlic, carrot and sauté for 1 minute. Add sauce, paste, stirring well into meat mixture. Add pasta, stirring gently to mix.

Mix together ricotta and spinach, spoon evenly into the mixture (do not stir in, you want to create little cheese balls), top with mozzarella, cover and let simmer on low until mozzarella is completely melted.

Serve with parmesan.

Just a note, this menu and recipes are from my Summer into Fall Cookbook.

That’s if for this week. If I get a chance to upload the roasted tomato photos this weekend, I’ll post them here. What’s on your plate this weekend?

Hit to comments to share your recipes.

Otherwise, open thread.

****ETA: Thanks to Ohio Mom for reminding me I was going to say, you can easily omit the beef. I have substituted zucchini and or mushrooms and left the meat out entirely. It’s a great vegetarian dish.

Friday Recipe Exchange: Garden FreshPost + Comments (23)

Friday Recipe Exchange: Summer Grilling

by TaMara (HFG)| August 16, 20197:27 pm| 72 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Food & Recipes, Recipes

Nobody says the sliced strawberries can’t be served over pound cake. Photo by JeffreyW

I finally finished the first of four cookbooks, so I thought I’d start the recipe threads again. Since I have the menus already formatted, it’s easy enough to copy and paste them into a thread once a week. I’ve had a few requests to start posting again, if only so everyone has a place to share recipes. Seems like a good idea these days.

On the board tonight: Santa Fe Chicken and Black Bean Salad

MENU
Santa Fe Chicken Breasts (recipe below)
Tortilla chips
Black Bean Salad (recipe here)
Sliced Strawberries

Santa Fe Chicken Breast

4 boneless chicken breasts
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 cup Picante or salsa (Fresh Salsa recipe here)
4 oz sliced Monterey jack cheese

Reusable plastic container

Add chicken, vinegar and cilantro to reusable container and marinate 1 hour or overnight.

Remove chicken from marinade and slice each breast in a butterfly cut (slicing in half horizontally, but leaving attached at one edge, so it folds open like butterfly wings).

Fold open and grill or broil until cooked through (as little as 5 minutes each side, depending on heat and thickness).

Don’t let dry out. Use a meat thermometer – remove at 165°

On one half of each breast, add 1 oz cheese and 2 tbsp or more of Picante/salsa, fold other half over and heat until cheese is melted.

Serve immediately.

That’s it for this week. What’s cooking in your kitchen? Go ahead and share your favorite recipes and tips. Otherwise, open thread.

Friday Recipe Exchange: Summer GrillingPost + Comments (72)

I Baked Today: Apple Strudel

by TaMara (HFG)| August 4, 20198:00 pm| 28 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Recipes, Something Good Open Thread

I had a couple of apples about to turn and needed to use them. Peaches, blueberries and plums are cluttering my counter, along with corn and tomatoes, so the chances the apples were going to be eaten anytime soon, were slim.

I hadn’t done a strudel in a long time and the recipe seemed simple enough, so here we are. I made two small dishes, so I could freeze one. Each little casserole dish held half the recipe.

Apple Strudel

2 1/2 cup sifted flour
Pinch of salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
3 tsp. boiling water

8×8 baking dish, well-greased

Stir dry ingredients; mix water with butter and add to dry ingredients. Knead well.

Divide dough into 5 parts. Roll each part very thin between wax paper.

In the baking dish, layer dough & filling, ending with dough. Bake in 400° F oven for 30 minutes. Remove, cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Filling:

2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
¼ cup raisins (optional)
1/2 c. sugar
2 apples, chopped finely

Mix together and spread between layers

After turning on the news briefly this morning, I have been offline the rest of the day. Plan on keeping it that way. I will tell you that the state Democratic Party contacted me yesterday and asked me if I would be interested in running for an office. After I stopped laughing, I told them probably not, but sign me up for voter registration and get out the vote efforts.

Respite open thread.

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Mmmm….Chocolate Caramel Walnut Bars

by TaMara (HFG)| June 23, 201910:31 pm| 37 Comments

This post is in: Food & Recipes, Recipes

Not surprisingly, I don’t have a lot of processed food in the house. I generally make things from scratch. And this week I was really craving something sweet and there was not a cookie or candy bar in sight. Luckily, I keep a LOT of ingredients in the house. There are always chocolate chips, nuts and raw coconut flakes in the cupboard/refrigerator.

I didn’t have the time to make cookies, so these bars were born.

Dark Chocolate-Caramel-Walnut Bars

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp dash of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
8 oz 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips
1/2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
4 oz of caramel chips
shredded or flaked coconut (I use raw, unsweetened)

8×8 baking dish, bowl

Beat butter and sugar until well incorporated. Then add egg and beat until fluffy. Add baking soda, salt, vanilla and flour.

Lightly grease bottom of the baking dish. Add batter and spread evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 15 minutes. Remove and add chopped walnuts, caramel chips and then chocolate chips on top.

Return to oven for 5 minutes. Remove and use an offset spatula to spread melted chips over the top of the bars. Sprinkle with coconut flakes.

Let cool completely before cutting into bars.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted a recipe – but there is a good reason for that – I’ve been doing recipe blogging for TEN (!!) years. I’ve just run out of ideas, LOL. I do use my blog as my own personal cookbook, so it will always exist.

But if you guys don’t mind reruns, I’m happy to post recipes again – just realize they are going to be from my “archives” and only the occasional fresh, new items. I do test out new ideas, I’ve just lost a lot of enthusiasm for documenting it.

Otherwise, here’s an open thread.

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A Late Evening Snack: Mother’s Day Baking

by Adam L Silverman| May 14, 201911:19 pm| 40 Comments

This post is in: Food, Recipes

I did some baking for the family’s Mother’s Day brunch. My brother specifically requested a key lime pie. I also made a Torta de Santiago. Torta de Santiago, sometimes Tarta de Santiago, is a regional dessert from Gailicia, Spain (torta is Galician, while tarta is Spanish) and was created in the Middle Ages for pilgrims. Which helps to explain its name: Saint James’ cake. It is an almond flour cake and there are several variations. Because I don’t eat refined carbohydrates in any significant quantities, I went with an almond flour cake recipe that is only sweetened with honey, not refined sugar. And yes, I know that honey is still a refined carbohydrate. I also know it doesn’t mess up my system the way refined sugar does. Torta de Santiago get lemon zest, but I decided to go with orange zest. And I didn’t add brandy or any of the other alcohol that can be found in some torta de Santiago recipes. The recipe I used can be found here. The only addition I made is the orange zest. It is very easy to make. One other note: torta de Santiago are traditionally finished with powder sugar that is applied over a stylized cross stencil. I went with fresh blueberries instead. Here’s another picture.

One other important note: the first time I made this cake I used a spring form pan. It came out with nice even sides and a nice even top. This time I just used a silicone cake pan and, as you can see, the sides are slightly rounded and the top is not even. I have learned my lesson.

On to the key lime pie!

The key lime pie is the same recipe that I posted here back in February 2016.

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick butter) melted

2 (14-ounce) cans condensed milk

1 cup key lime or regular lime juice*

2 whole eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter with your hands. Press the mixture firmly into a 9-inch pie pan, and bake until brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

In a separate bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, and eggs. Whisk until well blended and place the filling in the cooled pie shell. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Garnish with whipped cream, and slices of key lime or key lime peel.

* I use the Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice.

Open thread!

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A Sunday Night Recipe: Tahini Walnut Rolls

by TaMara (HFG)| January 20, 20196:15 pm| 22 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Open Threads, Recipes

I’m taking a hiatus from politics for a while. Here’s a recipe I played with this week. Love the people in my life who look forward to me experimenting with new recipes and are willing taste-testers.

I have a bunch of Food in Fiction recipes on the cooking blog, I love finding or recreating recipes in novels I’ve read. One of my very favorites was the Lane Cake from To Kill A Mockingbird. So when I started writing, I wanted to include foods in my books that match recipes on my blog.

In my newest endeavor, I have included a little Turkish Cafe as a part of the local color and I wanted to try out a few pastry recipes to use in the book. This was one of the simpler (and not deep fried) that I decided to give a try.

This is not the definitive recipe – if you Google Tahini Rolls you’ll find dozens of variations. Everyone’s grandma must make her own version. This one seemed the easiest to replicate.

These are much different than I expected. Light, crisp, flaky and not too sweet, they go great with coffee. I really liked them. This recipe makes about 2 dozen:

Tahini Walnut Rolls

4 tbsp butter
½ cup oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 pkg instant dry yeast
4 cups flour (480 g)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup tahini paste
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbs roasted sesame
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds to sprinkle over buns

Warm milk, butter, oil and sugar to 90 degrees (F). Add packet of yeast and mix gently.

Mix together flour and salt and add, 1 cup at a time, to the milk mixture. Blend thoroughly and mix until it forms a soft ball. Knead gently for 2 minutes.

Remove to a lightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled.

Meanwhile, mix tahini and sugar together until smooth. Chop walnuts.

Divide dough into two balls. Roll one of the balls out until very thin (but not thin enough to tear).

Spread ½ of the tahini mixture over the rolled dough. Sprinkle half the walnuts and 1 tbsp of sesame seeds over the dough. Roll up into a jelly roll. Slice into one inch thick pieces. Lay flat onto a baking sheet. Gently flatten.

Repeat with second ball of dough.

Mix egg yolk with a bit of water and brush over rolls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

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Open thread.

A Sunday Night Recipe: Tahini Walnut RollsPost + Comments (22)

A Late Evening Snack: Flourless, Sugarless Chocolate Cake!

by Adam L Silverman| December 26, 201810:43 pm| 70 Comments

This post is in: Food, Recipes

My mother found a recipe for a chocolate cake made without flour or sugar in some magazine and brought it to me and asked me to make it. This was for two reasons. The first is she wanted to try it. The second is that she knows that my system does not react well to flour, sugar, or other refined carbohydrates. So today I took out the emergency tiara, the matching apron and oven mitts, and the wand and conducted an experiment with a little long distance collaboration with TaMara. Specifically, I don’t have a large food processor. I just don’t have use for one. And the recipe, as you’ll see below, calls for mixing everything together in a large food processor. After a couple of emails back and forth, I went with her recommendation to just use my stand mixer with the whisk attachment.

Before I provide the recipe, this one has some interesting items in it. Specifically avocados. The cake batter gets three and the frosting gets two of them. Instead of cake flour or all purpose flour, it gets almond flour. And instead of sugar, this cake gets honey as the sweetener. I also added a bit of vanilla to the frosting even though the recipe doesn’t call for it, as well as adding an additional 1/4 cup of honey to the frosting as I thought it needed a bit more sweetness.

The cake is very rich. And it’s chocolateness is very rich. The texture is amazing, it is silky smooth. The flavor is a very deep chocolate with just a hint of sweetness. If you’re a dark chocolate fan, especially the dark chocolate that isn’t very sweet, then this cake is for you.

Here’s the recipe:

Cake

3 avocados mashed (this is 1 and 1/4 cups)
4 eggs
1 cup honey
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup almond flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Blend all ingredients in a food processor or standing mixer using the whisk attachment until smooth. Divide the batter into two 9 inch cooking spray coated cake pans for 20 to 25 minutes until done. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

2 fresh avocados mashed (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup honey (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons coconut oil (I used grapeseed oil as I don’t have any coconut oil)

Blend all ingredients in a standing mixer using the whisk attachment until smooth. Chill at least 30 minutes before spreading on cake. Makes 6-8 serving.

When I assembled the cake I used a good quality orange marmalade in between the layers and to crumb coat the top of the cake. The next time I make this I think I’m going to make an amaretto* flavored whipped cream for between the layers and to crumb coat the top. I’ll garnish a slice of the cake with that same whipped cream.

Here’s some pictures.

(Ready to be crumb coated and frosted)

(Crumb coated in orange marmalade and ready for frosting)

(Frosted and ready to serve)

Bon apetit!

We are off the strainer and through the cutting board…

Open thread!

* You can use the liqueur of your choice: amaretto, Bailey’s, kahluah, whatever you prefer. Or you could just flavor the whipped cream with almond extract. Or orange extract. Or lemon extract. All of those would pair very well with this cake.

A Late Evening Snack: Flourless, Sugarless Chocolate Cake!Post + Comments (70)

Saturday Night Recipe Thread: Holiday Treats

by TaMara (HFG)| December 22, 201810:44 pm| 23 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Open Threads, Recipes

From my recipe blog:

I was doing some recipe searching for a project I’ll post about later and sesame seeds were heavily featured. That put me in mind of Sesame Brittle. I thought it might be nice to have it to crumble over ice cream on the Sundae Bar on Christmas Eve.

Such a simple recipe. No candy thermometer needed. I always use oiled wax paper, but I’m wondering if oiled parchment would work better. The heat of candy on the wax paper melts it in places. Difficult to peel off.

Sesame Brittle

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
salt

saucepan, wax paper (or parchment) and baking sheet

In the saucepan over high heat, melt butter and sugar and stir to combine. Without stirring, cook until mixture becomes a light to medium caramel color, about 3-5 minutes, then add sesame seeds and stir in.

Pour mixture onto a well-oiled wax paper or well-oiled parchment paper covered baking sheet and spread into an even, thin layer, about 1/8 to 1 /4-inch thick, with a wooden spoon. The shape will be irregular but don’t worry, you are just going to break it into pieces after it cools anyway.

Immediately shake a bit of salt over top of mixture and lightly press into caramel using the spoon. I used less than a 1/4 tsp for the entire mixture and that was plenty, though your mileage may vary. Allow to set-up for about 10-15 minutes.

When brittle has hardened and cooled, break into pieces and enjoy. Store in an air-tight container. And then hide or it won’t make it to the party.

Top: Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies, Spritz Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes (Pecan Cookies)

We skipped the annual cookie baking party – but the recipes for the cookies pictured above and below are here.

Fruit-filled shortbread

BTW, for those who were waiting breathlessly on what movie we chose for this year’s party – the winner is: Speed. A feel-good Christmas tale of two star-crossed lovers racing to fix Santa’s sleigh before the big night and realizing, as Santa takes off with his eight tiny reindeer, they were meant to be and share a first kiss as the credits roll. (I may or may not have watched one too many Hallmark Holiday movies this week)

Open thread

(Has Betty Cracker done her annual drunken auntie cookie bakeoff?)

Saturday Night Recipe Thread: Holiday TreatsPost + Comments (23)

Thanksgiving Files: Turkey, Sides and Desserts

by TaMara (HFG)| November 18, 20189:05 pm| 105 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Open Threads, Recipes

I’m not cooking this year, so it gives me some time to put together a list of recipes links for Thanksgiving.

Starting with the turkey here are some of my favorites:

Spatchcock Turkey is the only way I make it anymore and you can find the recipe here.

show full post on front page

For just about every other way to cook a turkey, click here.

I have quite a few non-traditional side dish recipes, including Wild Rice Stuffed Mushroom pictured above and recipe here.

You can find Roasted Butternut and Apple Soup, Winter Squash Soup, Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin, Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/Pancetta and Grilled Onions, African Sweet Potato Salad, Cajun Sweet Potatoes, and Sweet Potatoes and Apples all here.

For more traditional sides, No Boil Garlic Mashed Potatoes, recipe here. JeffreyW does Oven Baked Stuffing step-by-step here. And of course, Cranberry-Apple Sauce, one of my favorites picture at top and recipe here.

Here are all the Thanksgiving recipes in one link, you can also search What’s 4 Dinner Solutions blog by ingredient to find a recipe.

I’m trying to decide between two desserts this year, since of course, I cannot arrive empty-handed. Here are the two I’m wavering between, Buttermilk Pumpkin Bundt Cake or Cranberry Upside-Down Cake, both recipes below:

Very moist, very flavorful And if you’re creative, you can make it look like a pumpkin.

Pumpkin Buttermilk Bundt Cake

2-1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp buttermilk powder
3 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
15 oz can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup water

Icing:

1 -1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk (more or less as needed)
1 tsp vanilla

bowls, bundt pan

Butter and flour bundt pan generously. In bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes), add eggs, beat 1 minute. Add pumpkin and vanilla and beat on low until incorporated, scraping sides frequently. Alternate adding the flour mixture and water until all are incorporated with the pumpkin mixture and batter is smooth.

Spoon into the bundt pan and gently tap pan on the counter to remove any bubbles and even out the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden skewer comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes, then invert on a plate and remove from bundt pan. Let cool completely before frosting.

Icing: Add vanilla to powdered sugar and then slowly add milk until mixture is smooth. Pour evenly over cooled cake. (I added yellow and red food coloring for some Hallow

Cranberry Upside Down Cake

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups cranberries, chopped*
½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange zest (rind)
1 ¼ cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup milk

Topping

½ cup powdered sugar
1-1/2 tbsp orange juice (more as needed)
2 tsp butter, softened

8×8 glass baking dish & mixing bowl

Preheat oven to 350°

Melt 3 tbsp of butter and pour into baking dish, spread to cover bottom and up the sides. Add ½ cup sugar, mix with butter on bottom of pan. Add cranberries & walnuts, spread over bottom of pan. Cream remaining butter & sugar, add vanilla, egg, orange zest, mix well. Add flour, baking powder & milk, mix until well blended, don’t over mix. Pour batter over cranberry mixture. Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown and center bounces back at the touch. Invert on plate. Let cool.

Topping: Mix together butter, orange juice & powdered sugar, pour over cake and serve.

* if you don’t have a food processor, you can leave cranberries whole.

That’s pretty much all I have, LOL. What’s your favorite Thanksgiving recipe?

I absolutely despise the whole marshmallow sweet potato dish. Any dishes you would love to never see again on the holiday table?[

Open thread

Thanksgiving Files: Turkey, Sides and DessertsPost + Comments (105)

Friday Recipes: Multi-Pot Bourbon Beef Stew and Cookies

by TaMara (HFG)| November 16, 20189:00 pm| 97 Comments

This post is in: Cooking, Open Threads, Recipes

Wow, what’s got into the food goddess? Another recipe? Quick someone check her for a fever.

I’ve posted this recipe before, but wanted to update it for the instant pot. (You don’t need to use the slow-cooker feature after pressure cooking, I had the time and it was easier than trying to find room for it in the refrigerator until dinner that night). You get a bonus Gabe photo, too. From What’s 4 Dinner Solutions:

I used the multi-pot to cook up a big batch of Bourbon Beef Stew (recipe here) for dinner guests. I sauteed the beef in the multi-pot, along with the onions and then added the remaining ingredients and used the soup/stew feature to pressure cook for 20 minutes. I then used the slow-cooker feature to let it cook for the rest of the day.

I have been using potato starch in lieu of flour for gravies and thickening. It makes for a satin texture and I really like it. Bonus, gluten-free.

The bread was not gluten-free and we had two loaves of it. Using this recipe and my new KitchenAid.

Sure looks like someone nicked a cookie before I got my photo

And for dessert, Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe here) – again using the new KitchenAid. I’m enjoying it and can’t wait for the big Christmas cookie baking session in December.

Bonus Gabe supervising the cooking:

I am not cooking Thanksgiving this year (though there still seems to be a 12lb turkey in my freezer). I’ll be traveling instead. That means I will have time on Sunday to put up a post with some Thanksgiving recipes, links to many more and be around to answer any pressing recipe questions.

Have I mentioned I love Thanksgiving?? Also, I know we are going to have 52 different versions of beef stew in the comments, claiming to be the best. So let me say this now, “Yes, yes, yours is the best, what were we all thinking with our inferior offerings?” ?

What’s on your plate this weekend? Open thread.

Friday Recipes: Multi-Pot Bourbon Beef Stew and CookiesPost + Comments (97)

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