Everyday Life : Salads

We have salads almost every day.  If it's not a side salad with our meal, then it's a main course salad.  I never get tired of salads because you can have such a huge variety of stuff each time you make one.  And that not even counting fruit salads!  Below are a couple of our current favorites.

We buy flavored balsamic vinegars from Midtown Olive Press.  Give them a try, they are terrific. And they package everything so beautifully, it's like getting a present when it arrives.

Raspberry Chicken Salad
Ingredients - Chicken breasts, cucumber, raspberries, goat cheese, bell pepper, lettuce

Make a bed of lettuce.  Add chopped cucumber and bell pepper.  Add raspberries and goat cheese crumbles.  Saute chicken in 1 tsp. butter until done and golden brown.  Add a splash of raspberry balsamic vinegar at the last minute of sauteing.  Cube chicken and add to salad.  Top with dressing.

Raspberry Balsamic Dressing
1/4 cup raspberry balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon water
Mix ingredients in a bottle and shake vigorously to mix.

Maple Chicken Salad with Ham Frizzles
Ingredients - apples, walnuts, blue cheese, chicken breast, ham, celery, lettuce

Make a bed of lettuce.  Add chopped celery and apples.  Add walnuts and blue cheese crumbles.  Saute chicken in 1 tsp. butter until done and golden brown.  Add a splash of maple balsamic vinegar at the last minute of sauteing.  Cube chicken and add to salad.  Top with dressings.

Maple Balsamic Dressing
1/4 cup maple balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon water
Mix ingredients in a bottle and shake vigorously to mix.

Botted Ranch dressing

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite salad recipe?

Everyday Life : Tea and Cupcakes

I have a cup of tea everyday (two on Fridays!) and every so often I make cupcakes.  Cupcakes are happy - how can you not like a cupcake?

I find a lot of good looking recipes for cupcakes on Pinterest :

but my favorite recipe is one I've had for a while :

Real Vanilla Cupcakes :  (Makes about 24 cupcakes)

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir to combine.  Add butter and mix with pastry blender or electric mixer.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla.  Gradually add to dry ingredients.  Do not overbeat.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full.  Bake for 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack, then frost with frosting (recipe below).

Real Vanilla Frosting :

1 cup butter
6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter until smooth and creamy.  Add 6 cups sugar, 1/4 cup milk and vanilla.  Mix until light and fluffy.  If necessary, add more sugar to make frosting fluffier, or add more milk for creamier frosting.

Enjoy!

Inspiration : Cupcakes

Who doesn't love a cupcake?

1. Cuatro Leches Cupcake, 2. Salted Caramel Cupcake - close - Cupcake Central AUD4, 3. Lemon Meringue, 4. Cupcake w/Vanilla Frosting, 5. Peaches & Cream Cupcakes, 6. Pistacchio cupcakes, 7. Cupcake Chorus Line, 8. creamsicle cupcake, 9. Cupcakes on tier series, 10. cupcakes, 11. Cupcakes, 12. Cupcake Camp, 13. Cupcakes

A Simple Christmas : For the Cook

A Simple Christmas may seem a little bit of an oxymoron for the cook!

But I enjoy cooking and baking (a lot), so it wouldn't seem like Christmas to me if I didn't do a fair amount of baking.  It's kind of sad that most of the people I know (with a couple of exceptions) claim "they don't like to cook."

But for those that do....here is my favorite cookie recipe.  I've been making these since I was a teenager, and they are good:

Iced Butter Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (the real stuff, not imitation)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Cream the butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, blend well. Add the flour. The dough should come together in a big ball or mass of dough.

Place in plastic wrap (I shape it into a thick frisbee shape) and chill at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

Roll out half of dough at a time, use favorite cookie cutters to make shapes, place on un-greased baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees about 10 to 12 minutes or until just turning golden around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool completely before icing.

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 tablspoons water
food coloring (optional)

Mix together in a bowl.  Ice cookies!  This makes a sort-of off-white icing color.  You can add a few drops of food coloring to make different colors, if you like.  I just make the off-white color, I like it.  I've considered getting some natural food coloring (India Tree makes little kits just like the conventional ones), but haven't gotten around to it.

Depending on the size cookie cutter you use, you can get anywhere from 4 to 6 dozen cookies from one batch. I made two batches and got about 12 dozen.

If you have a cook on your gift list, here are a few ideas :

Top : Psalm Cutting Board, from ExquisiteInks

Middle : Personalized Labels, from LittlebeaneBoutique
Gourmet salt sampler, from Craig's Market
Rustic Craft Designs' Wood Butter
MidTown Olive Press' Infused Olive Oils

Bottom : Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food
Komo Grain Mill
Earth to Table, Seasonal Recipes from an Organic Farm

And if you are interested in fermented foods and priobiotics, Cultures for Health is a great resource.

What are your favorite cooking tools and supplies?

Saturday Snapshot 11.24.2012

Photo Credit : kayakeverywhere

It's pie season, ya know.

What's your favorite kind of pie?

MIY Recipes : Elderberry Jelly

I'm one of those "I'll just make it myself" kind of people.  We don't buy a lot of convenience foods or prepared foods, since I enjoy cooking and baking.  So much of the grocery store these days is filled with foods that are just as easy to make yourself.  The benefit being - you know what's in it, and maybe more importantly - what isn't in it.

So with that thought in mind, I'll be sharing a few of my own MIY (Make It Yourself) recipes.  

Let's start off with something simple that makes a lot : Jelly.  Specifically, elderberry jelly.  But it could be another flavor if you don't have elderberry juice.  Grape, pomegranate, cherry, cranberry, etc.  But the elderberry is delicious, and good for you, to boot.

Elderberry Jelly
Makes 6 half-pints

3 cup elderberry juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 box powdered pectin

4 1/2 cups of sugar 

Sterilize your jars in simmering water.  Put your lids in a small saucepan and pour boiling water over them off the heat.  Meanwhile, begin heating your water bath canner to a boil.  Have a teapot with boiling water ready as well. 
  
In a tall stockpot, mix the elderberry juice, lemon juice and pectin.  Heat until at a rolling boil (which cannot be stirred down).  Add the sugar and bring back to a hard boil for 1 minute.  Watch carefully, as it foams a lot. 
  
Ladle the jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Wipe the rims of the jars clean with a soft towel.  Place lids and rings on the jars, and process in water bath canner for 5 minutes.  Remove and let cool.  You should hear a "ping" as the jars cool and seal.  Leave undisturbed for 24 hours.

Check for a good seal.  Remove rings and gently wash and dry the jars.  Label and store in a cool, dark place.

Enjoy!

Tea Love : Hot Tea

I love tea...hot tea.  I am not a coffee drinker at all, so we have hot tea every morning with our breakfast.  Our favorite brand of tea is PG Tips, a English tea.  It's a great basic black tea with a lot of flavor.  Earl Grey is another fave...great for afternoon tea.

Here's a shot of my Tea board over on Pinterest :

Tea Board

There are several Ravelry groups that are tea-based.  I'm in the Cuppa Tea group myself.

Now, I think I'll go have a cup of tea.

Are you a tea drinker?