Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

I made this last night for dinner. It is from the Barfoot Contessa's cookbook Back to Basics. I can tell that we are going to have a lasting relationship. I adjusted the sauce a bit to my liking. It has a kick and the way that she had it, there was a little to much horseradish for my liking. ENJOY!

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
INGREDIENTS FOR 6-8 SERVINGS;
For the Shrimp:
2 Lbs. Shrimp
1 Tbs. Good Olive Oil
½ tsp. Kosher Salt
½ tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
For the Sauce:
½ C. Chili Sauce
½ C. Ketchup
1 ½ Tbs. Horseradish
2 tsp. Fresh Lemon juice
½ tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
¼ tsp. Tabasco Sauce
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Place them on a sheet pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper and spread them in one layer. Roast for 8 to 10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through. Set aside to cool.
For the sauce combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve as a dip with the shrimp.

Barefoot Contessa

It's summer!! My kidos have been participating in our libraries summer reading program. So, we have been to the library weekly. While we were there, I picked up a few cookbooks to check out. I hate buying cookbooks that I have not previewed first. I have bought several only to sit on my shelf and never to be used because they were not my style. Well, I have been very impressed with these cookbooks. Everything that I have made out of them so far have been great. Just thought I would share in case you were looking for a new cookbook.


Friday, June 10, 2011

Granola

Last night I made granola for this morning. There is nothing like yogurt, fresh berries and homemade granola. All of my kidos liked it, which is always a big accomplishment. Granola is very easy to make and you can freeze it so it will stay fresh. Here are a few of my recipes.

Best Granola
INGREDIENTS:
1 Box Zoom Hot Cereal
8 C. Old Fashion Oats
2 C. Brown sugar
2 tsp. Salt
Mix all together in a large bowl.
Mix together in a separate bowl:
1 ¼ C. Oil
1 ¼ C. Water
5 tsp. Vanilla
Pour over oat mixture. Place on two large cookie sheets. Bake for 2 hrs at 250. Stir every ½ hour and rotate baking racks. Note: For this recipe you can substitute honey for the brown sugar. However, add the honey with the wet ingredients before mixing with the oat mixture.
After baking add slivered almonds, craisins, raisins or what ever other creation you can come up with!

Homemade Granola
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 POUNDS:
7 C. Rolled Oats
2 C. Almonds
1 C. Sesame Seeds
2/3 C. Canola Oil
2/3 C. Brown Sugar
½ C. Maple Syrup
¼ -1/3 C. Honey
¼ C. Shelled Sunflower Seeds
¼ C. pumpkin Seeds
2 tsp. Sea Salt
4 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 C. Dried Fruit and/or 1 C. Coconut Flakes (Optional)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl. In a saucepan combine sugars, honey, salt, oil, and vanilla extract. Cook until sugar and salt are melted. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Heat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Pour onto baking sheets and spread until evenly distributed. Depending on the level of tastiness, bake for 20 to 35 minutes or up to 40 minutes; checking often until you achieve the color that you want. Stir once or twice and rotate positions. If adding fruit, add when it comes out of the oven or during the last 5 minutes. Let cool completely. Serve over yogurt and fresh berries or fruit.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

The Art of Biscuits

Up until about the last year, I would just assume to buy the store bought biscuits sold in a tube. Homemade biscuits can be so dried out. Well, now I make my biscuits. I have found that I would rather just cut them into squares with a pizza cutter instead of cutting them with a round cutter. Here are a few recipes that I have tried that have been yummy!


This recipe is like the flaky biscuts that you can buy at the grocery store, only better and with out all of the preservatives that you find in premade food. I looks more complicated than it is.
Flaky Biscuits
INGREDEINTS FOR 10-12 SERVINGS:
2 ½ C. Flour
1 Tbs. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 Tbs. Shortening
1 ¼ C. Cold Buttermilk
8 Tbs. Unsalted Butter, Cut into 1/8 –inch Slices
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 450. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add shortening to flour mixture in ½ inch chunks. Mix using your fingers until only pea sized pieces remain. Add all but 2 Tbs. of buttermilk to flour mixture and mix with fork. Add remaining buttermilk if needed. Dough should be sticky, but come off sides of bowl. Spray work surface and rolling pin with nonstick spray. If you continually sprinkle flour over the work area and rolling pin, you will add too much flour to the dough. Transfer dough onto center of prepared work surface and form dough into a ball. Pat down into a 10-inch square, then use a rolling pin to roll into an 18 X 14 inch rectangle. Think about how to fold a business letter into thirds to fit into an envelope. Thinking of the dough as a letter, place butter slices on center of third of dough. Using a scraper to pull the dough up, fold the bottom third onto the center third and then place butter slices on it. Next, fold the top third down. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat the folding and butter placement. You should end up with a lumpy rectangle that is about 6 by 4 inches. Place dough in freezer for 15 minutes. Remove from freezer. Roll dough into 10-inch square about ½ inch thick. Cut dough into 3-inch squares using a pizza cutter. Transfer squares to an ungreased baking sheet placing 1-inch apart. Brush biscuit tops with melted butter. Bake until the tops are golden, about 15 minutes.
COMMENTS: This recipe came from the Black Bear Inn in Tahoe, Ca.


This recipe is very easy.
Cream Biscuits
INGREDIENTS FOR 1 DOZEN:
2 C. Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1 Tbs. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Sugar
1 to 1 ½ C. Heavy Cream
1/3 C. Butter, Melted
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425. Use an un-greased baking sheet. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in dry ingredients with a fork to blend and lighten. Slowly add 1 cup of cream to the mixture, stirring constantly. Gather the dough together, when it holds together and feels tender, it is ready to knead. If the dough seems shaggy and pieces are dry and falling away then slowly add enough additional cream to make the dough hold together, Place the dough on a lightly floured board and knead for 1 minute. Pat the dough into a square that about 1 inch thick. Cut into 12 squares and dip each into the melted butter (or just brush the tops). Place the biscuits 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly brown. Serve hot with jam.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Warm Cherry Cobbler

We had Cherry Cobbler tonight for dessert and it just hit the spot. We had it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I found it on allrecipes.com.
Enjoy!!

Cherry Cobbler
INGREDEINTS FOR 8 SERVINGS:
3 Tbs. Butter, Melted
1 ¾ C. Sugar, Divided
1 C. Flour
1 Tbs. Cornstarch
¼ tsp. Salt
1 C. Boiling Water
1 tsp. Baking Powder
3 ½ C. Fresh Cherries, Pitted
½ C. Milk
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix ¾ C. sugar, butter, flour, salt, baking powder, and milk together. Place cherries in the bottom of a 9-inch square pan. Spread dough over cherries. In a small bowl, combine 1 C. sugar and cornstarch; stir in boiling water. Pour mixture over the dough. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cherry Ammond Muffins

So yesterday, I was up to my 'pits' with cherries. Some friends invited us over to pick cherries. My kidos loved it. The older ones love to climb the tree and get the high ones. We picked about 10 pounds. I went and bought a cherry pitter and it works wonders. I made two batches for Cherry preserves and I am going to make more. It turned out so yummy. I highly recommend it. Meanwhile, I went on the Internet to find some cherry recipes. I went to Taste of Home and found this muffin recipe. It was so yummy and it has been added to my collection of recipes. Hope you enjoy it.
Cherry Almond Muffins
By Melissa Maseda
INGREDIENTS FOR 7 SERVINGS:
1 ¾ C. Flour
½ C. Plus 1 Tbs. Sugar
½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
¼ tsp. Salt
½ C. Cold Butter
1 Egg
¾ C. Sour Cream
1 tsp. Almond Extract
Topping:
1/3 C. Flour
2 Tbs. Sugar
2 Tbs. Cold Butter
1/3 C. Chopped Sliced Almonds
Filling:
8 oz. Cream Cheese, Softened
1 Egg
¼ C. Sugar
½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
¾ C. Cherry Preserves, Warmed
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat the egg, sour cream and almond extract until smooth; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick).
For the topping, combine flour and sugar in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in almonds; set aside. In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla until smooth. In a saucepan over low heat, warm preserves. Fill grease jumbo muffin cups half full with batter. Divide cream cheese filling and preserves evenly between muffin cups; swirl gently. Cover with remaining batter. Sprinkle with topping. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Makes 7 jumbo muffins or 14 regular muffins.