Jack Daniels glaze for salmon

Have you ever gotten so fixated on a recipe that you end up making that dish week after week all summer?  Me neither (ahem).  But if I did, it might be this salmon with Jack Daniels glaze.  Hubby professes not to like salmon, but what he seriously objects to is the salmon-flavor.  If you bury that under a mess of glaze, it's good times and great taste, I promise.

I bet this glaze would also be awesome on chicken and shrimp.  Or drizzled on sweet potato or broccoli or...it's good, friends.



Simple Jack Daniels glaze

1/2 cup Jack Daniels whiskey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

Rinse and pat dry 2 salmon filets, place them in a baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a saucepan, stir together glaze ingredients and simmer over low heat until the consistency is more syrup-y (about 15 minutes).  Once sauce starts to simmer, put salmon in the oven to cook.

Cook salmon for 15 minutes.

Ladle about half of the glaze onto the salmon.  On the first go, I pour on quite a bit.  It caramelizes in the oven, and then I baste from the thickened sauce in the baking dish.

I keep basting every 5 minutes or so until salmon is cooked through (we like ours well-done so this is about 25 minutes total from when the salmon first went into the oven).

Trying recipes from My Berlin Kitchen

I told you I would get back to you after I tried out a couple of recipes from My Berlin Kitchen, and here I am!  You didn't think I forgot, did you?

First up, the ragù.  In the book, Luisa warns you that any cook time of less than 5 hours simmering this sauce isn't really worth it.  I can see why she says this.  I started my prep after lunch, and my whole house smelled moderately awful until at least 3pm (though I should probably add the disclaimer that we are not big meat-eaters and very rarely pork eaters--this recipe requires 1 pound each of beef and pork).  Thank goodness it was a reasonable temperature outside, so I could open the windows and back door.  My wee girl kept wondering aloud what that horrible stink was, and I pretended not to know.  Not appetizing.  Then, around the 3 or 4 hour mark, something changed.  The smell changed for sure.  I didn't taste the ragù early on while it was distinctively fragrant, but I'm betting the flavor made a huge leap forward too.  At the 5 hour mark, it smelled almost sweet and definitely delicious.  The flavor was great, far greater than the sum of its parts.  In addition to being easy to cook, it's a solid basic sauce, good on pasta or lasagna or frozen for future use.  I'm glad we stuck it out, but I will remember next time to prep on a weekday when my eaters are not at home during the early stages.  My oh my.



Next, the buttermilk panna cotta.  I knew this had to be made before I even finished reading that chapter.  Luisa wrote about the glories of a cold drink of buttermilk on a hot summer day.  I bet most people I know would screw their noses up at this idea, but my husband wholeheartedly agrees.  He has tried repeatedly over the years to sing the praises of buttermilk in hopes I might adopt it too.  I love to cook with it, but drink?  Not so much.  This dessert seemed a perfect match for both of us, and it was!  Cream, vanilla beans, and buttermilk cooked and cooled to perfection.  The texture of creme brûlée (minus the burnt sugar shell).  So smooth, cool and absolutely delicious!  The perfect summer dessert for grown-ups (our girls tried it but couldn't get past the buttermilk tang).  We loved it with and without the berry topping Luisa recommended.  Yum.

Have you tried and loved any new recipes lately?

Tannies

Rainy days keep us home, but that can be a good thing.  More time for baking and crafting, no?  Don't I sound like the picture perfect stay-at-home mom?  In truth, I just love to indulge my sweet tooth, and homemade just tastes better.  This afternoon, we tried a new recipe, one that is super-easy to do with kids.  If you are feeling the need for something high on the yummy scale with almost* zero healthy content, this recipe is for you.



Tannies (because they are tan, not dark brown, get it?) from Picnic

24 squares of graham crackers
1/2 cup wheat germ
one 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350F/160C and lightly grease a 9" square baking pan.

Place the graham crackers in a ziploc bag (or more baggies if you have more kids), and use a rolling pin to crush those crackers into crumbs.  Fun times!

In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, wheat germ, condensed milk, chocolate chips, vanilla and walnuts, if using (we omitted the walnuts).

Spread the batter into the greased pan and bake for 35 minutes or until lightly brown.  Cool for only 5 minutes, then cut into squares and remove from pan (otherwise, you may have one big tannie that you cannot remove from the pan).  Allow squares to cool completely on wire racks.  Eat without guilt and enjoy!

*hey, they have wheat germ!  that's healthy stuff!

Baked mini donuts

Stephanie is having a pajama day at school, and I volunteered to supply doughnuts for snack time.  I'm sure the teachers intended for me to buy them, because only crazy people make their own donuts, right? I just so happen to be that flavour of crazy.  I am a proud owner of one (sadly under-used) mini donut pan.  Unless I am handed a piping hot, fresh Krispy Kreme donut, I will choose cake donuts over fried every time.



If you look up mini donut recipes online, you'll find countless recipes, but most of them are essentially the same.  The one I use is this:

Baked mini donuts

1 cup flour
5 - 6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt*

1/2 - 1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 Tbsp melted butter
6 Tbsp buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F and grease donut pan (I use cooking spray).
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
Add wet to dry and mix thoroughly.
You can spoon the batter into each space (about 2 Tbsp) or you can put all the batter in a piping bag and squeeze it into the pan.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then cool completely on rack.

*use less salt if you don't plan on glazing or sugaring these; otherwise, they might taste too salty.



To make cinnamon sugar donuts, toss cooled donut in melted butter and then toss it in cinnamon-sugar.
For a basic glaze, mix one cup of confectioners sugar and a bit of liquid (water, milk, buttermilk).
For a nice chocolate coating, you can melt milk chocolate in a double boiler and dip the donuts into the melted chocolate.  It will harden as it cools.  Or you could just add cocoa powder to the confectioners sugar glaze.  That works too.

I also baked chocolate donuts with white glaze for variety.  That recipe was found here.

 

Banana mini-muffins

At my younger daughter's school, the kids take turns providing snacks.  Today was our day.  We baked banana mini-muffins from a banana bread recipe I've been tweaking over the years, and they went like hot cakes!  I sent 2 dozen for 8 kids and none were left over.  One mom texted me later that her son said today's snack was "the best best best snack ever!"

So you know these are fully kid-endorsed (though I admit the mini-size is a key selling point to the 5-and-under set).

Banana bread or muffins or mini-muffins

1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (natural cane sugar if you have it)

1/4 cup coconut oil

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup natural plain yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

cooking spray (I use coconut oil spray)

Preheat oven to 350F/160C.

Prepare loaf pan with cooking spray or line muffin tray and spray with cooking spray (not required but the muffin will stick a bit to the paper without the spray).

Whisk together flours, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together oil and sugar until fully combined.  

Beat in eggs one at a time.  

Add banana, yogurt and vanilla; beat until blended.

Add flour mixture, blending at low speed until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan or muffin cups.

Bake at 350F/160C: about 1 hour for bread, 30 minutes for regular muffins and 12-15 minutes for mini-muffins.

Cool bread in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Watch them disappear!

*makes one loaf, one dozen muffins or about 4 dozen mini-muffins

Another trip around the sun

This morning began with our family's traditional coffee cake and candles with the birthday song, because why not enjoy the super-fun part of one's birthday as soon as one wakes up?



Here's to another year of good times, lovely friends, loving family and an appreciated, blessed life!

Start Your Birthday Right Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Batter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick or 60g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk

Topping
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
8 Tbsp (1 stick or 120g) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F/160C.
Butter 9" round (or 8" square) cake pan and line bottom with buttered parchment paper.

Make batter:
Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl for at least 1 minute (can be done by hand or with a mixer).  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Stir in half of the flour mixture.  Stir in milk.  Stir in rest of the flour mixture.  Beat for about a minute.  Pour into pan.

Make topping:
Mix flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.  Stir in melted butter until combined.  Rub the mixture between your hands to create crumbs of topping.  Scatter crumbs all over batter.

Bake for 40 minutes or until well-risen, slightly golden, and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool on rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan.  Cool completely.  Replace any crumbs that fall off...or just eat them.

Baking with butter (aka "call the cardiologist")

I realized last night that I have baked with more than 2 pounds of butter in the past week (or less).
It has been mighty tasty around here lately.



Over the weekend, we enjoyed chocolate birthday cake with butter roux frosting.  More specifically, it was The Best Chocolate Cake in the Whole Wide World with Cloudburst Frosting from Alicia.  I felt a recipe title like that was a rather bold claim and needed investigation.  I can confirm it is most excellent, particularly when enjoyed with a glass of pinot noir...or tea, of course.



Last night, I was enjoying a bowl of broccoli cheddar soup and perusing Deb's latest recipes on smitten kitchen.  All she had to do was mention homemade apple butter poptarts, and I knew that was my next project.



These babies are dee-lish-us, but they should come with a free visit to the cardiologist.  There is half a pound of butter in the dozen of these.  Whew!  My girlfriend gail asked how they compare to hand pies, and I have to admit that I might prefer hand pies.  I think I prefer a greater ratio of fruit to pastry (did I just say that?).  On the other hand, I foresee limitless possibilities in trying these with various fillings from Nutella to homemade jam.  I picked up some pomegranate jam at the farmer's market last week.  I bet that would be amazing.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

A current favorite recipe around here is pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. The girls love them because of the chocolate chips. This mama is happy to bake them often because they are made with lots of goodies: whole wheat flour, flaxseed, pumpkin. And in case gail drops by for a chat, these muffins are vegan too!

I've adapted this recipe a bit from the original. I've noticed that using packed pumpkin from the tin results in a very thick, dry batter (not so when I roast and puree my own, thus the substitutions I include), but the finished texture is fine. I swapped chocolate chips for the recommended carob (mostly because I can't find good carob chips) and cut the added sugar in half. The original also recommends cinnamon-sugar sprinkled over the top, which is yummy but no one notices when I leave it off. The muffins are fully yummy in this sugar-reduced state, so I may continue to cut it down a tablespoon at a time.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins

adapted from "Vegan Lunch Box" by Jennifer McCann

1 cup pureed pumpkin, sweet potato or butternut squash

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup canola oil

2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed/linseed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 2/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda/bicarb

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (ground fresh is best)

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with muffin cups.

Put pumpkin, water, canola oil, flaxseed and vanilla in a blender or food processor and process on high for at least 1 minute, until light in color and well-blended.

In large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add pumpkin mixture and mix with wooden spoon or spatula until well-blended.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon into muffin cups.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes in the pan; then, remove from tin and finish cooling on wire rack.

Salad dressing on my face

You read that right.

I put salad dressing on my face.

On purpose.

Crazy, no?

The truth is it seems I have very sensitive, dry skin. My last (expensive!) night cream gave me dermatitis on my face. Not a good look and quasi-permanent, which is very disheartening. My dermatologist told me point blank that the beauty industry is an industry and that we don't need any of the creams and serums and concoctions they want to sell us, no matter the price point. We need a clean face, which can be achieved with a good soap (I use Dr. Bronner's bar soap), and sunscreen during the day and that's it. She conceded I should use a moisturizer if it makes me more comfortable (it does), but which one?

It seems the answer is salad dressing.

Oh yes, my friends.

This is another recipe from A Home Companion, the source of my homemade laundry detergent. Having finally run out of all samples and anything else resembling moisturizer I could use at night, I decided to whip up a batch of Magic Night Cream.

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

about 1 tablespoon water

3 drops lavender essential oil, optional

Blend olive oil and vinegar. Slowly add water to make a creamy texture. Add essential oil to mask salad dressing smell if desired. Store in the fridge in a glass jar. Give it a vigorous shake before using because contents will settle and separate.

I omitted the essential oil as not to provoke the dermatitis. Yes, it smells like salad dressing. Does it work like magic? Yes! The oil sinks in relatively quickly (no oil on my pillow), leaving beautiful, soft, well-moisturized skin in the morning.

Try it, I dare you.

Banana cupcakes

Last night, I pulled one of my old what-to-feed-littles cookbooks from the shelf and had a curious flip-through. This morning when we were invited to a friend's house for morning tea, this recipe was fresh in my mind. It baked up in no time because--get this, Mamas--you whip up the entire recipe in the food processor! Yippeee! I've included regular instructions too, in case you don't have a food processor, but for those of you who do, this may become a go-to recipe. Enjoy!

Banana cupcakes*

from "Feeding Made Easy" by Gina Ford

175g (6 oz) butter

50g (2 oz) caster sugar

225g (8 oz) self-raising flour (I used wholemeal)

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

3 very ripe bananas

85 mL (3 fl oz) maple syrup

Preheat oven to 180c/350F.

Line muffin tin with paper cases.

Cream butter and sugar together. Beat the eggs in separate bowl and gradually add to butter-sugar mixture. Fold in flour and baking powder, then mashed bananas and maple syrup. Mix until well combined.

or even better...

In a food processor, whiz together butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs until well mixed. Add bananas and maple syrup. Mix until smooth.

Spoon into muffin cases (maybe 2/3 full) and bake 15-20 minutes until well risen and firm to the touch. Cool for 5 minutes in tin and then remove from tin and finish cooling on wire rack.

Watch them disappear.

*this recipe was listed as "banana muffins" but with so much sugar and butter, calling them cupcakes seems more accurate

Perfect muffins

My wee girl wanted to bake raspberry muffins today. We've been doing a lot of muffin baking lately, and I admit many efforts have been less than satisfactory. One recipe had too much sugar (a whole cup between 12 muffins), another required too much butter (more than a tablespoon per muffin), others were too dry... It was time for reliability. I turned to Smitten Kitchen and tried out Deb's perfect blueberry muffins, because really, Deb is to be trusted completely in the food department (especially when it comes to treats). She has never let me down. Not once.

And.

These muffins.

Are.

Perfect.

I swapped raspberries for blueberries, added white chocolate chunks and omitted the lemon zest. Then, I tasted them to be sure I could write to you with authority. I ate three to be sure (ahem).

I am tempted to make several batches and leave them on the doorsteps of all my neighbors to surprise them on Christmas morning.

Happy Baking to you!

Thanksgiving or Me oh my, I love pie!

Today is Thanksgiving in our house! I made the cranberry sauce* a couple of days ago, I farmed out the side dishes, ordered the turkey from the fancy-pants grocery store, so all I had to do today (other than tidy, ahem) is bake PIE!

On the menu is sweet potato buttermilk pie and chocolate pecan pie. Yes, with homemade crusts. A small amount of nail-biting might have been involved during pre-baking. It's been a while since I've made pie. But oh! Me oh my, I love pie!

My house smells heavenly. The sweet potato pie baked first, and it is cooling as I type. The pecan pie is in the oven. I followed Emeril's recipe because I'm missing New Orleans, but I omitted the bourbon because we're not actually in New Orleans and kids will be eating this. I'm particularly excited about the layer of ganache that will be spread on top. I may or may not have dipped a spoon (or three) into the chocolate sauce that is waiting. One must be sure it will taste delicious, not so?

Yesterday, I stocked up on wine for the dinner. I didn't really know what kind of wine to buy. Turkey isn't very commonly eaten here, so suggestions were minimal. Ultimately, I bought four bottles each of riesling, sav blanc and chardonnay. I may have gone slightly overboard...

*In case you think cranberry sauce is only available as a scary, gelatinous substance from a can, I'm here to tell you that real cranberry sauce is not only amazingly delicious but also easy to make! The basic recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray cranberries bag is a winner, but you can find some reliable variations here. This year, mine is more of an elegant cranberry sauce reduction since I accidentally left it simmering away while I put the girls to bed and fell asleep myself (oops), but Hubby enthusiastically assures me that it tastes fabulous anyway.

Frozen yogurt banana pops

With temperatures soaring to 35C in the shade (from 15C at daybreak), I needed a nourishing, cooling snack for those pesky after school hours. These banana pops were just the ticket! They are bananas dipped in Greek yogurt with a touch of honey, rolled in sprinkles and frozen as popsicles. I had made these with peanut butter and/or chocolate before, but not the yogurt. Delicious!

I wish I could take the credit for the idea, but I can't. Thanks to Jean at Artful Parent for sharing this treat with us!

Manic Monday

A deep yoga stretch unlocked some stored stress, and I began to cry in class just as everyone else seemed to reach a blissful state. When this happens, no thoughts accompany the woe, so I don't know how to turn it off. Embarrassing and day-breaking.

Later, I tried to explain myself on the phone to Hubby through stifled sobs, and he interrupted.

"Who have you been talking to?" he demanded to know.

"Because you've really got your Aussie on!"

And just like that, the cloud lifted.

I have no idea why I'd gone Aussie, but realizing it made me giggle so endlessly that the tension melted and stayed away. Thank goodness, because it was the busiest Monday it could have been. It was full from the moment I woke to the sound of something shattering until the moments I tucked each of my tired but happy little girls into bed. I rolled right through it, rather enjoying my homemade dinner reward of Thai fish and carrot-peanut salad with a lovely glass of Riesling at the end of this very Manic Monday.

Sweet potato, spinach, & bleu cheese frittata

I'd forgotten how yummy (and fast!) frittata can be!

To make the frittata:

Preheat broiler (that's in your oven).

At medium heat on the stovetop, melt 2 Tablespoons butter in a pan that will go from stove to oven (I use a cast iron skillet)

In a bowl, beat together:

6 eggs

2 Tablespoons milk (or water)

salt and pepper to taste

Pour egg mixture into hot pan on stove. Cook until eggs are mostly set (sides are firm but center is still a bit runny).

Toss on top of the eggs in whatever amount seems most appealing to you:

sweet potato (mine was leftover, pre-cooked)

fresh spinach, chopped

crumbled bleu cheese

Place in oven under broiler and cook until eggs are set. My oven is small, so I set the rack two spaces below the top level to prevent burning. It was all done in the time it took to prepare the two other meals required to keep the peace this evening...(don't get me started; at least my meal was delicious too!).

Enjoy!