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Uncle John’s Cider Mill —–Colorful Broccoli Salad
October 21st, 2009
This past weekend we had some downtime to hang out with some friends and go to our local cider mill. Michigan is well known for their wineries and brewery, but I am not informed on all kinds of beers. I feel out out of place, like I am missing out, but from what I hear it is not so lady-like to drink beer. 🙂 Well, at this Cider Mill they make unpasteurized apple juice, wines and hard cider. We were set on going to the tasting room but there was an 1.5 hour wait.
We decided to purchase an Apple Hard Cider, which turned out SO SO good. I am set in getting used to cider than beer, right? Who is out there to cheer me on? Ok well, we all sat down and purchased some apple cider and famous cake donuts and decided to venture on to the pumpkin patch. I am soaking up fall, let me tell ya. I have made people back home envious of an acutal season. I know what it finally feels and looks like!
After the fun times we headed off to a friend’s house for some nice hearty potato soup, salad and hard cider! What good times!
Colorful Broccoli Salad
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serves 4
Salad
2 Broccoli floret and stalks, chopped (1/2 inch pieces)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
Vinagrette
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed black pepper
Chop the broccoli florets and stalks in 1/2 inch pieces and place in a salad bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss with vinagrette before eating. Crunchy and flavorful!
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Spiced Pear Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar & Oat Streusel
October 20th, 2009
So I have a lot to catch up. The weekend flew past me without being able to update on the yummy recipes I used. Friday we had a nice couple come over and eat dinner. I made my grandmother’s recipe for enchiladas making a quick simple version and calling it enchilada casserole. Is it not wonderful to be able to improvise when it comes to cooking, just because you CAN? Oh yeah! Well, during my menu planning, I also had to plan dessert. What more can you ask for during the fall season? Well, after having a spicy dish I figured we could have a light dessert, so I decide to have a fruity coffee cake. I have to say I have only made the classic coffee cake with certain variations, like peach preserves mixed with the streusel, but never with actual fruit.
While surfing Foodbuzz I came across a recipe I had saved from one of my blogger “friends.” I believe her recipe was on the top 9 recipes of the day, so I decided I would try the recipe adapted from Epicurious, which by the way has some great recipes! SO this recipe asked for Bartlett pears, which I found earlier in the week at the Farmer’s Market. A whoel quart of pears for 3 bucks! Can’t beat that can ya! I am sure you can. 🙂 They were so sweet! The only thing I would change for next time is that I would ADD another pear to this recipe. I mean if it is going to be called Spiced Pear Cake, might as well have enough, right?
Our company like it and I also had leftovers to bring over to my voice teacher. It was funny to get a call from his partner saying how wonderful it was over a glass of red wine! I like getting unexpected calls from people who enjoyed my baking. Enjoy the recipe as I did!
Spiced Pear Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar & Oat Streusel
Adapted from Epicurious as found on Cookin’ Canuck
Streusel:
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp ground cloves
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) chilled butter
Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1 1/2 Bartlett pears, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I would add another half)
Making the streusel:
In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, rolled oats, and ground cloves. Whisk together. Cut 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled butter into 1/2-inch pieces and cut into the brown sugar mixture with a pastry cutter or your fingers. When the mixture resembles coarse meal, set it aside.
Making the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
Combine 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter and 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar in a separate large bowl, and blend with a mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
Fold in the flour mixture alternately with plain yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Do not overmix.
Coat a 12-cup bundt pan thoroughly with cooking spray (or grease with butter or shortening). Spoon in 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Top with 1/2 of the streusel mixture and 1/2 of the pear pieces. Spoon in half of the remaining batter and top with the remaining streusel and pear pieces. Spoon in the rest of the batter and spread evenly over the streusel.
Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Cool on a rack. Invert the cake onto a serving plate. Using a sieve, sprinkle over about 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Pan-fried Lemon-Sage Chicken with Roasted Butternut Squash, Onions, Sage and Blue Cheese
October 16th, 2009Thursdays are our “rush” days. My hubby and I have a tight schedule consisting of school, work and music rehearsals, so making a good meal to eat around 5pm can get very tight. Well, lately, I have been making creative pasta dishes every Thursday, but somehow, I was NOT in the mood for pasta, especially since my hubby had cooked the night before. He made me Yankee Chili which requires elbow macaroni. I have never had this dish before and had been quite skeptical of it but I can’t argue when my hubby volunteers to cook, you know? Here is the picture of his meal:
Ok, so I thank my hubby! Anyway, I wanted to get away from having another pasta dish so I looked at a receipe I had bookmarked for Butternut Squash on Kevin’s blog, called Closet Cooking. I know I mentioned that I was going to make soup with the squash recipe but this was calling my name!
The next to think about was the main portion of the meal. We have been good about eating meat only once or twice a week, since I like eating protein in different forms. Based on that fact, I decided to make a chicken recipe that would accompany all the flavors incorporated in the squash recipe. The results were fantastic! It filled us pretty quickly without the need to have rice, potatoes, or bread. This quick and easy meal for a hectic busy schedule proved to be a winner in our books.
Pan-Fried Lemon-Sage Chicken with Roasted Butternut Squash
serves 2 (recipe by me)
2 chicken breasts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp sage, chopped (dried or fresh)
1 lemon, juiced
Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Meanwhile, butterfly each chicken breast and place the chicken breasts between a sheet of parchment paper. Use a mallet to pound the chicken until it is 1/2 inch thick.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and spices and coat each chicken breast in flour. Place the chicken on the pan and fry the chicken for 5 mins on each side. The last 3 minutes, add the lemon juice to the chicken in the pan. Immediately serve.
I would recommend preparing the squash first, then the chicken.
Roasted Butternut Squash
–with onions, sage, and blue cheese—
adapted from Closet Cooking
serves 2 people
1/2 butternut squash, cut in 1 inch cubes
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
10 sage leaves
Place squash on cookie sheet and drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper and cook for 25 minutes on 425F.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat and saute onions and garlic. Add sage leaves and continue to cook until aromatic. Add the roasted squash and remove the pan from stove top. Add the crumbled cheese and mix. It will melt as you mix in.
Serve with the chicken and a nice white wine!
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Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
October 15th, 2009Does anyone else have ice cream during the fall and winter times? Well, I guess, let’s say I know a little more about ice cream since being married to my hubby. What is it with our men and ice cream? Are there lactose-intolerant men out there? Of course NOT!
Anyway, seeing that I had a moment there, I thought I would expound on my ice cream-making adventures. In fact, there wasn’t much adventure other than the fact that we were making homemade ice cream for the first time. I have been frequenting a great blog, called Dinner and Dessert, where Erin has documented HER ice cream-making skills. I have seen many bloggers refer to David Lebovitz as having the best guide to making ice cream, but even though I have not purchased his book yet, which is called Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments , I will get to share the recipe with you from his book that came from Erin’s blog.
If you like chocolate and peanut butter, you are going to really like this combination. It also has a recipe for a Reese‘s peanut butter cup-like dough to go as a mixin’!! My hubby proclaimed it as the best homemade ice cream he has ever had! How about that! Luckily, my husband had a Krups automatic ice cream maker that came to our rescue so no hand churning, rock salt or anything like that. Even my hubby was glad to help. His “2 thumbs up” after finishing the first taste of homemade ice cream makes it worth making again! Enjoy!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
makes a quart
2 cups half-and-half
¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
½ cup smooth peanut butter
Whisk together the half-and-half, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter, stirring until thoroughly blended.
Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Peanut Butter Patties
6 tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Mix together the peanut butter and sugar in a small bowl. Line a dinner plate with plastic wrap. Pinch off small pieces of the peanut butter mixture, about ½ teaspoon each, and drop them onto the dinner plate. Once you’ve used all of the mixture, freeze the patties.
Mixing them in: Fold the Peanut Butter Patties into 1 quart of ice cream as you remove it from the machine.
Storage: Peanut Butter Patties can be stored in the freezer, well wrapped, for up to 1 month.
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Stuffed Acorn Squash with Shrimp Salad
October 14th, 2009
I have had a butternut and acorn squash staring at me for a while now and I knew I had to make something with it. I really DO enjoy eating squash and since it is the season for it I will be making a soup with the butternut later on.
We had a gorgeous sunny day yesterday. It inspired me to be inventive especially while listening to a great CD, which I recommend. Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon:Duets by far is a great CD on duets from famous operas. Let’s face it! It inspired this “autumn misses summer” dish.
I really have not ever heard of squash mixed with shrimp but it sounded appetizing and a nice challenge. DO you know that roasting squash is SO easy? I need to do it more often and even more so with squash I have never tasted before. If you could only see the heirloom squash and varieties at the Farmer’s Market, you would be going nutty like me! 🙂
Once I started making the dish I then decided to make quinoa as a side dish to accompany this hearty meal. My mom has been telling me about quinoa for a while, but it just had not convinced me. The last time I was in town, she sent me away with 2 cups worth of quinoa from Whole Foods. Can you believe that after 8 months I finally used it! It was DELICIOUS! Enjoy trying this recipe!
Stuffed Acorn Squash with Shrimp Salad
serves 2
1 acorn squash, cut in half, not length-wise
salt and pepper
1 cup cooked shrimp, chopped
1/2 cup red pepper, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
olive oil
juice of 2 limes
2 tsp parsley flakes
Drizzle each half of the squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on a cookie sheet and cook for 45 minutes on 425F.
Meanwhile, prepare the salad. Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss with olive oil and lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Quinoa as a side dish: Cook 1 cup of dried Quinoa and cover with water. Cook for 10 minutes on medium-high heat. When they look transparent, drain excess water and drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.
