Category Archives: Food Friday

Food Friday – Cookie Decorating Adventures!

27 Friday Jul 2018

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Photo of my latest work-in-progress!

Welcome to what I am hoping will be a semi-regular occurrence around here – my Cookie Decorating Adventure! While discussing my newest obsession with Kris, we kind of decided it would be fun to keep tabs on this newest endeavor of mine. I’m still learning, and maybe as I go there’s something I useful I can pass along that I learn the hard way.

I’ve always loved decorating cakes and cookies, and while my skills were passable, they weren’t allowing me to do all the beautiful creations I kept seeing all over the place. I’ve had books, and they have helped immensely, but only took me so far.

Then, I discovered Craftsy. I could WATCH someone do this stuff, make the needed decorating mediums etc. – it was fantastic! I found a few classes that intrigued me and as they went on sale, I’d pick one up here and there. I originally found cookie decorating classes, then that led me to cake classes. I started with a class for making piped flowers out of royal icing with the mindset the techniques would translate to buttercream etc. And they will. But, it seemed my timing was not the greatest – it was starting to get warm out. That’s not exactly a good set-up for success with frosting that can get droopy and melty, and I was running out of room to store the royal icing flowers I was making while practicing!

So, I went back to my class library and chose a cookie decorating class, and was seriously inspired! I could whip up a bunch of rolled-out cookies, bake them and then pop them into the freezer to be pulled out as needed/wanted for practice during the warm months! If I planned enough ahead, I could have enough to keep me set up for awhile. So, that’s what I did. I had a few marathon baking days, and now have some in the freezer ready to go when I am.

I decided a Food Friday was a good time to start! So, I will share with you one of my favorite roll-out cookie recipes from King Arthur Flour called Holiday Butter Cookies. It’s one I’ve used now for quite awhile and it always comes out nicely for me. I like it because it doesn’t use any leavening, therefore they don’t puff up and have too much spread – when they do that they can lose their nice shape and crisp edge.

First bit of “homework” from Craftsy class!

The cupcake cookies in the above photo are my first attempt from one of the classes on Craftsy by Anne Yorks, owner of Flour Box Bakery. Her website, Flour Box Bakery.com is a wealth of supplies and knowledge, seems like I’m there at least 3 times a week! I love her selection, prices and the customer service is fantastic. Plus she and her team ship things out really fast!!

It had been a couple years since I’d decorated cookies like this, and it was likely Christmas cookies, and it was a lot harder than I remembered, lol. The instructor makes it look soooo easy! But you have to start somewhere, and the hard part for me is trying to NOT be disappointed that they don’t look like a pro’s the first time out. The point of learning is to experiment, make your mistakes and hopefully learn from them, and keep on going – not to give up after the first try if it’s not on par with someone’s skills who has been doing this for years! It’s really hard though! Having practice cookies has seemed to help – I’m not “practicing” on cookies I’m planning on giving to anyone etc. Now’s the time to push your limits, mess things up to see what doesn’t work!

So, there it is, my newest thing to work on. Hopefully I can document things along the way, share what I’ve learned as in what works and what doesn’t, lol. I have learned though that this “craft” is one that can be very individual, seems there are loads of royal icing recipes out there, techniques and so forth. It just takes some time and a lot of trial and error to find what works for you!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Food Friday – Versatile Pie: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or Dessert!

23 Saturday Jun 2018

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Zucchini (and Bacon) Frittata

It’s squash season and our diet is full of all things zucchini and yellow summer squash!

When it comes to summer meals, I am all for one dish dinners that are quick, easy, and don’t heat up the kitchen too much.  In years past, quiche with almost any kind of veggie filling has been go-to summertime dinner.  But, quiche, with its pie crust and heavy cream filling, though tasty, is not particularly weight loss friendly.  This year’s substitute for that quiche is the frittata.  Honestly, I find it equally as delicious and much more kind to my waistline!

This particular recipe is a little labor intensive, but it is definitely worth it.  Set the A/C a few degrees lower and go for it!  The day I made it, the thermometer on our patio read 105 degrees.  I have no regrets!

Ingredients:

The first step is to shred about two pounds of squash.  I did it in about 30 seconds using the food processor.  You can use all zucchini, all yellow summer squash, or combination of the two.  I used the a combination.  Once you have shredded your squash of choice, place it in a colander stir in the salt.  Place a heavy bowl on top of the squash and let it drain for about an hour.  You may also want to give it a few good squeezes.  The goal is to remove as much liquid as possible before cooking.

While the squash is draining, dice the onions.  If you wish to add bacon, this is also the time to cook it.  I used four slices of thick-cut uncured bacon. Set the cooked bacon aside.  Leave 2 TBS of the bacon drippings in the pan.

Once the squash has drained, mix in the onions.  Saute this mixture either in olive oil or the reserved bacon drippings.  Cook the mixture for about 20 minutes.  The veggie volume will greatly diminish!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Once the veggies are done, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cheese, and flour.  Stir in the veggies (having drained off any excess liquid), and cooked bacon.

Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil into a 9 or 10 inch round oven safe pan.  I used a cast iron skillet.  Pour the mixture into the pan spreading it evenly.  Bake it for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown.

That’s it!

I cut mine in to eight servings.

I am glad that I added the bacon to this recipe.  Without it, I think that it might have been a little bland.  Notice there are no herbs or spices.  If I were to make this recipe with veggies only, I would likely add a little garlic and maybe some red pepper flakes.

This is a super flexible recipe!  Use broccoli or spinach.  Add ham.  Experiment with herbs and spices.  Most importantly, enjoy!

 

from Tracey G.

No-Bake Fresh Strawberry Pie

Where to begin with this No-Bake Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe saga, how about here:

A week ago in a galaxy kitchen far, far away…

My temperamental kitchen sink drain/run of pipe decided it was a good time to clog up. Now it does this about twice a year, due to the poor plumbing job when the house was built (which Jeremy curses every time he has to fix said drain clogs), too long of a run of pipe and gravity is NOT on its side. Usually a bit of muscle get is it going. Well, we thought after the industrial-strength drain eater cleaner, it seemed to be ok. Nope, about a day or so later, we were back at the beginning again. Long story short after practically tearing apart the kitchen, pipes etc, we were good to go. Although there’s still a bit of a problem with the parts at the sink that I had to work around until new could be acquired.

Whew, ok, where was I? Oh right, the saga…

Well, this ” sink drain development” set me behind, and I mean REALLY behind in my Food Friday preparations. So much so that it was Friday morning when I finally got to get started on the recipe. But of course it’s one that needs to set up for about 2 hours (well, they do say that you can eat  it right away if you like/want, but I had photos to think of, so set up time was a good thing), and I knew there was no way it would be ready in time for photos and then posting, so I told Kris I’d be most likely posting on Saturday.

I had first seen this recipe in the Spring issue of Sift, and it calls for one baked 9-inch pie shell, so I used their Single Pie Crust recipe I’ve used many times. But when I looked up the recipe online, it had a different title (the “No-Bake” part added), different crust (although they list you can use a traditional crust in the “Tips From Our Bakers” section, which is what I did), a different amount of berries (2 lbs. instead of 1 lb., along with different sugar amount) and an extra option added for thickening – the KAF Pie Filling Enhancer, instead of just the corn starch listed in magazine.  Well, ok, good thing I got 2 lbs of strawberries!

I got my pie crust made, but let me tell you – I opted to try the “Stand Mixer Method” as talked about in this post from KAF’s blog, Flourish, entitled – “How To Make Pie Crust In Your Stand Mixer: Easy Does It”. And out of everything that went wrong for me along this recipe’s journey, this went so right! It was a great way to bring it together, and super easy! Unfortunately, myself and Pie Pastry have a long-standing love/hate relationship. Just when I think I have it mastered, it laughs at me and says “Oh no you don’t, take that! Ha!!” and becomes a mess to work with, as it did this time. I have no idea what I did wrong, likely not enough water – but let’s just say it became a “pat-in-the-pan” style crust.

Moving on…. I got the pastry shell baked, fairly successfully. I had a few cracks here and there, but nothing I’d worry about, ugly but oh well, ugly food can still taste good!

Now, on to the berry part. I prepped the berries as stated in the recipe. You then pull about 1 1/2 cups out and place in a saucepan, along with your sugar and thickener of choice. I chose to use the Pie Filling Enhancer as I had some that I wanted to use up that had come from a defective batch to KAF’s standards. They had initiated contact with me about it, refunded my money and attached alternate usage instructions for it. I figured this would be a good project to use up the rest of it for. Unfortunately, it didn’t offer a totally clear thickening, mine’s a bit cloudy. But again, it still tastes good!

So, you cook the 1 1/2 cups of berries in the saucepan along with the other filling ingredients (but not the lemon juice), until they thicken, then add in your lemon juice. After that, you stir the whole mix into the rest of the fresh berries and place in the pie shell. As I said before, they state you can eat it now, while warmish or refrigerate for a couple hours to set up. I felt that there weren’t enough berries, maybe I cut them too small, but it seemed to look under-filled – I think next time I’ll get one more pound of berries! The more the merrier I say!

As the saga continued, I had some more trouble when it came time photograph it – of course right? Everything else has had a hitch, why not this part too? While taking it out of the refrigerator,  I managed to break the crust further, lol. I did hide that area for the photo though, I’ve had enough issues with the making of this recipe and wanted something that looked decent!

I have to say though that I really loved this pie and will make it again. I used to love our Big Boy Restaurant’s Fresh Strawberry Pie and this is way better, lol. Maybe because I made it myself and I can eat as much as I want??? It’s so super easy, I swear Harry could make it without help, as long as there were no setbacks such as I dealt with along the way!

If you get some fresh berries – do try this pie! I love that it has a few crust idea alternatives along with the one they utilize in the online recipe. The one in the online recipe is a true pat in the pan crust! Not one that should be rolled out and decided to be difficult, lol. I wish now I’d have tried that one first! Could have saved me a step! 😀

 

Mix It Up Friday : Seeing Double – Double Duty Scone Mix & Double Chocolate Cookies!

15 Friday Jun 2018

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from Kris B.
French Toast Scone Mix Bread

In our Mixed Up Friday post last month, Tracey and I had both made scones from King Arthur Flour mixes.  We mentioned that on the King Arthur website were suggestions for ways to use these mixes to make things other than scones.  Since I had a lonely box of French Toast Scone Mix sitting in my pantry, I figured I would give one of those alternative options to scones a try.

My choices were pancakes, coffee cake, shortcake, muffins, and bread.  All the choices sounded good.  I’ll be honest and tell you that I opted for the bread because it was the least offensive with regard to calories.  Rather then following the directions on the box for scones, instead, to the mix is added:

  • salt
  • vegetable oil
  • milk
  • an egg
  • optional white sugar

The optional is 2-3 tablespoons in case you want a sweeter bread.  I did add two tablespoons of sugar not so much for the added sweetness, but because I hoped it would help to create a “crisper” bread crust.  As I always do, I also used almond milk instead of cow’s milk.  That substitute is 1:1.

The dry ingredients are whisked together in a mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl, or mixing cup with pouring spout, the oil, milk, and egg are whisked together and then added to the dry ingredients.  The batter is then poured into a greased 9X5 loaf pan and popped in a 375 degree oven for 50-60 minutes.  The most difficult part of this recipe is remembering to tent the bread during the final 15-20 minutes of baking!

This mix’s french toast flavor comes from cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as cinnamon chips.  I will say that the smell of this stuff baking is almost as good as eating it!

To me, the final product was lighter, not as dense, as most sweet breads that I have made in the past. It is possible that using almond milk contributed to the lighter texture.  The bread also seemed a bit oily to me.  I am tempted to try this recipe again, but next time substituting unsweetened applesauce for the oil.  Like the milk substitution, applesauce for oil is also 1:1.  Because the flavor of this mix is wonderful, working with it to get what I want is really a no-brainer!

And if you want French Toast Scones, follow the directions on the box and enjoy!  I have never been disappointed by any of King Arthur scone mixes!

from Tracey G.

Essential Goodness Double Chocolate Cookie Mix

What can I say? This has to be one of the easiest things I’ve ever done/made! The EG Double Chocolate Cookie Mix is crazy simple! The only ingredients I contributed was 6 tbsp of butter and 1 large egg. That’s it.

The box states it can make 12-14 large cookies, that’s if you form the dough into 1.5″ balls. I used a smaller scoop, about a teaspoon size. (I actually used this one I treated myself to recently in preparation for Christmas cookie baking: Teaspoon Cookie Scoop) It made about 3 dozen fun little cookies.

As for the final outcome? They’re super yummy – think brownie in a cookie form! That’s what they taste like to me. I was really pleased with them and this mix. This mix also has various other treats you can make with it, and they can be found here on the Essential Goodness Double Chocolate Cookie Mix Product Page.

I can safely say it would be a handy and tasty mix to have hanging about the pantry for sure!!

Food Friday – Fruits and Veggies in “Disguised as Sweet Treats”

08 Friday Jun 2018

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from Tracey G.

Raspberry-Lemonade Squares

I am a lover of all things lemon, and, all things raspberry! Even though the seeds annoy me, I don’t care because I love raspberries no matter what, I just deal. This recipe is a combination of the two in a bar/square form, Raspberry-Lemonade Squares. These are heavenly and so wonderfully summery, but the beauty is you use frozen raspberries so you can enjoy this any time of year. A little bit of summer in the dead of winter always sounds good to me!

These are made just like a lemon bar, only with added raspberry puree. The crust is a shortbread-style crust, and then there’s this interesting topping – a white chocolate mixture. Honestly, these would be good without it and maybe just some whipped cream or even just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

I’m not sure if it’s because I goofed and thought I had white chocolate chips and didn’t, so I used some Wilton Candy Melts in their place, but the topping made for some ugly presentation! It cracked and smooshed the bars when I tried to cut them up. I was hard pressed to get any fairly decent looking ones out of it for their photo! I wish now I hadn’t cleaned up my mess (the one time I’m efficient, sort of) because I should have also taken a photo of the disasters! It definitely hardened like a candy shell, I was hoping it might stay sort-of soft as it had an addition of corn syrup in combination with the white chocolate and cream. There really must be a reason there is no photo of them at the King Arthur Flour website!

This is another recipe that uses the Instant ClearJel, but they also state you can use corn starch as well! I used the ClearJel because I have it on hand.

The ingredients are simple:

CRUST

  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • glazing sugar or confectioners’ sugar
  • salt
  • lemon zest
  • soft butter
  • vanilla extract

FILLING

  • eggs
  • lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • lemon zest
  • frozen raspberries, thawed, pureed and strained to make about 3/4 to 1 cup seedless puree
  • sugar
  • salt
  • Instant ClearJel or cornstarch

TOPPING

  • white chocolate chips or chunks
  • cream
  • corn syrup

You make the crust, then while that’s baking make the filling. And here I do recommend making the puree ahead of time, it would just be easier in the long run I think. It wasn’t hard, but slowed me down. I just thawed my raspberries in a bowl in the microwave, mashed them up a bit, then pushed them through a fine mesh sieve. Was really simple, but as I said – it slowed me down in making my filling.

When the crust is done, you pour on the filling and pop back into the oven. Once it’s baked until it’s set, you let it cool before you top it with the white chocolate/cream/corn syrup mixture. To make the topping, I melted my white melts in the microwave then added the other two ingredients, and mixed well.

I also made the mistake of having my pan of squares in the refrigerator before I topped it – as you can imagine, the white chocolate topping hardened almost on contact, so my spreading efforts were foiled somewhat. And again, I think they’d be wonderful cut in squares, then topped with whipped cream or whipped topping right before serving. Easy peasy!

Anyway, no one else in the house has tasted them yet, and I’m not sure they’ll even get a chance – I may hoard them all to myself! Ha! They are really yummy, and I was so happy to be rewarded with something that tasted super delish, after all the cosmetic damage I caused them!!

from Kris B.

Take-10 Super Cookies

I am doing my best to be intentional but not obsessive about eating well these days.  In an effort to accommodate my inner cookie monster I went on the hunt for a cookie recipe that had at least a little redeeming nutritional value.  I will be the first to admit that I am skeptical about anything that uses the words “healthy” and “cookie” in its name.  That skepticism carried into this week’s recipe for Take-10 Super Cookies as well.  But, I made them anyway and boy am I glad!

These are called super cookies because, according to their description on the King Arthur Flour website, “they’re moist, chewy, and packed with tasty ingredients.” And  Take-10 “because 10 of the ingredients are considered by cancer researchers to be “breast-cancer friendly”, and a good start towards preventing breast cancer.”

Those ten ingredients are:

  • olive oil
  • cinnamon
  • ginger
  • cloves
  • carrots
  • dried cranberries
  • bittersweet chocolate chips
  • almonds
  • white whole wheat flour
  • rolled oats

The other ingredients needed to make these cookies are:

  • brown sugar
  • baking powder
  • baking soda
  • salt
  • vanilla extract
  • egg
  • boiled cider (substitute maple syrup or dark corn syrup, if desired)

This may seem like a lengthy list of ingredients, but the cookies mix up easily.  The wet ingredients and the spices are mixed.  The carrots, cranberries, chips, and nuts are added, followed by the flour and lastly the rolled oats.  The one thing that I forgot to do first was toast the almonds (10 minutes in a 350 degree oven, which is the same temperature at which the cookies bake so it wasn’t a huge slow down to the process.) The ingredients were all mixed in a single bowl with a wooden spoon, making for quick and easy clean-up.  Another bonus to this recipe!

Full disclosure here…my cookies were actually “Take-9” because I omitted the chocolate chips.  Seems crazy to omit chocolate, right?  This decision had nothing to do with health, nutrition, or calories.  I made it based purely on personal preferences.  My husband does not like baked chocolate of any kind and I am not a fan of the combination of chocolate and fruit, except for chocolate dipped strawberries! 🙂  Chocolate and cranberries do not sound like a match made in heaven to me.  But hey…to each his own!  Give it a try!

The spice combination in these cookies is perfect!  And the toasted almonds send the flavor right over the top!  The Take-10 Super cookies are like a marriage between carrot cake and an oatmeal-craisin cookies.  This, to me, does seem like a match made in heaven! 🙂

My search for a healthy-ish cookie is now over.  This one is a hit at our house!

 

Food Friday – Cake, Anyone?

02 Saturday Jun 2018

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from Kris B.

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Don’t let the healthy sounding nature of bananas and peanut butter fool you.  These cupcakes are pure decadence!  I have always been a yellow cake and chocolate frosting kind of girl when it comes to cupcakes, but these put my old favorite to shame!  All I can say is yum…and, try them!

The banana flavor is all in the cake.  The ingredients are:
  •  butter
  •  sugar
  •  eggs
  • ripe bananas
  • honey
  • yogurt or buttermilk
  • vanilla extract or banana flavor, optional
  • baking powder
  • baking soda
  • salt
  • cinnamon
  • ground nutmeg, optional
  • flour
  • King Arthur Flour Cake Enhancer, optional, for moist texture

I followed the recipe as written using vanilla rather than the banana flavoring.  I do love bananas, but banana flavoring?  Not so much.  I feel like using two good-sized ripe bananas gave the cupcakes plenty of banana flavor.  The cinnamon and nutmeg are  a perfect enhancement to that flavor.

I also used yogurt rather than buttermilk.

Because I am always looking to try something new, whether it be a recipe or a product, I ordered the optional King Arthur Flour Cake Enhancer that the recipe suggests.  Its purpose is to help create a more moist product and top increase the shelf life of your baked goods.

From the King Arthur website:

“And what IS Cake Enhancer, exactly? It’s rice starch, polyglycerol ester, and mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids – complicated looking words, but nothing to be afraid of. These fatty acids come from vegetable fats, and act as emulsifiers, allowing fats and liquids to combine more easily. They also serve as stabilizers and texture enhancers. Widely used in commercial baked products, they keep baked goods fresh and soft, and help cakes stay light and fluffy.”

The banana cupcakes definitely had a great texture.  Unfortunately, since I have never made this recipe before, I have no means of comparison with and without the Cake Enhancer.  I am going to try it on a tried and true recipe and see if I can see or taste a discernible difference.

And then there is the frosting!  How can you go wrong with peanut butter anything?

  • confectioners’ sugar
  • peanut butter, creamy or chunky
  • vanilla extract
  • salt, optional, to taste
  • milk or half & half

This frosting is perfect for these banana cupcakes.  But I have to say, it would probably be equally as tasty on a chocolate cupcake as well.  And maybe even my favorite yellow cake.  All that to say that it is a really good frosting!  This from a person who does not normally enjoy frosting.

Honey roasted peanuts are used as a garnish.  The instructions say to dip the freshly frosted cupcakes into the peanuts.  Because frosting, the noun and the verb form of that word, and I are not the best of friends, I was not going to dip the cupcakes!  I was proud of myself for getting fairly neat swirls of frosting on the top of the cupcakes.  Turning them upside down was not a risk I was willing to take!  I opted to sprinkle the crushed peanuts on top instead.

The printed recipe says that it makes a dozen cupcakes.  I got fourteen and that was with over-filling a couple of places in the pan and leaving a little extra batter in the bowl for my husband to enjoy. 🙂  I could easily have gotten fifteen, and maybe even sixteen, cupcakes from this recipe.

Confession: I made enough frosting to cover only three of the cupcakes.  I put the rest of the unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer.  I may eat them as is, or pull them out as needed and again make smaller batches of the frosting.

Because I found this recipe so delicious, I am going to work on a “redux” to see if I can bring its calorie count down a little.  If I am successful with that, I will share it in a later post!

For now, may your June be full of sunshine and cake!

from Tracey G.

King Arthur Flour’s Original Cake Pan Cake

I had planned a different cake for this week, one I’ve been wanting to make, KAF’s Caribbean Rum Cake. I had the recipe printed out ready to go, as it was my last one to make in their Year Of The Bundt series from a year ago or so. But then, somehow I saw this one, again, for Cake Pan Cake. I’ve looked at it before in passing, but never really gave it serious attention. I noticed they even have a post about it on their Flourish Blog, that they shared as THE recipe to share to mark their 225th Birthday.

What caught my attention was that it’s one that emerged from WW2 era, concocted during the time when ingredients were subject to rations. So, this cake has no eggs, milk or butter. (When I told Jeremy that before I made it, his comment was “oh, so therefore not good”) This something my grandmother would have made. I’d actually bet money on it!

The other wonderful thing about this cake is, if you wanted, you can mix it right in the pan. I chose the updated version, where you mix dry in one bowl, and wet in another, then combine. I also liked the fact I could do this by hand – no mixer required. And, it was fast to come together, I believe I told Kris that it wasn’t much more effort than making a cake from a mix! The “frosting” is a simple ganache of chocolate chips and half and half. And honestly, this would be good without it too! The whole of this recipe is so simple and fast, it will make a nice recipe for those times when you want or need something fast and simple, with ingredients you generally have already in your pantry!

CAKE

ICING

  • semisweet chocolate chips
  • half & half

I used a square pan, but you could use a round pan too. They suggest cutting it into 16 pieces, and I at first thought – “No! That’s too small!” – but really, it’s not. It’s good sized piece for this cake. Just right actually. Granted, I could always eat more chocolate cake, but this size works nicely. It’s moist and chocolatey without being overly sweet.

After Jeremy’s comment that it can’t possibly be good with no milk, eggs or butter – he changed his tune quickly when he tasted it. Both of my boys were extremely complimentary of this cake, and that’s a pretty good stamp of approval! I had to limit seconds until I could get the photo of it taken! It won’t last long around here, I even had a piece for brunch with my coffee!!

This is one recipe you have to try – it’s one of the easiest and yummiest things I’ve made! In fact, I plan on teaching Harry how to make it – he could just dust it with powdered sugar and call it done and it would still be yummy.

As Kris mentioned wanting to try a redux on her recipe, I want to try it on mine too. I’d like to try swapping some of the vegetable oil for applesauce. The recipe, as made, and cut into 16 pieces, clocks in at 220 calories. I want to see if I can do a bit better than that, BUT not compromise the cake! I will definitely let you know what happens when I do!

Mix It Up Friday -Scones for the Holiday Weekend

25 Friday May 2018

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from Tracey G.

Very Berry Scone Mix from King Arthur Flour

What perfect timing for Mix Week – cruising into a Holiday Weekend! I do appreciate something fast when the schedule gets hectic – even if it’s a fun kind of hectic!

The King Arthur Flour scone mixes are always easy and I’ve not had a disappointing experience yet! And, the scone mixes are so versatile! They provide you with “recipes” for transforming the mix into various other goodies like muffins, pancakes, coffeecakes etc. Just check out their Scone Mix Magic page for them!

To make the Very Berry Scone Mix, you just need a few ingredients:

  • Salt
  • Butter
  • Milk
  • Egg

You start by adding the salt to the mix, then mixing/cutting in your butter. Once that’s done, combine milk and egg, add that egg/milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened. You’ve got a few options for shaping, you can go the traditional triangular way by patting dough into a circle on baking pan and cutting or make drop-scones. I used my scone pan for mine!

I couldn’t wait to try these as the smelled so very yummy while they were baking! The “berry” comes from their Jammy Bits in the strawberry, blueberry and raspberry flavors. I love those little things as they’re made from real fruit, not “fruit-flavored” bits like in some other mixes out there. I also like that you can buy them separately to add to your own creation!

But, back to the Very Berry Scones – they are delicious! They tasted as good as they smelled while they were baking. I will be buying more of this mix as they make a yummy addition to your morning coffee or in the evening as a treat!

 

from Kris B.

Peaches and Cream Scone Mix from King Arthur Flour

I am departing from my healthy, low-calorie, Weight Watcher’s point friendly food here and moving toward pure decadence!.. These may look like basic drop biscuits, but in reality they are peachy rich goodness!

I suspect that the basic scone mix for the King Arthur Flour Peaches and Cream Scones is exactly the same as that of the Very Berry Scone Mix that Tracey made except with Peach Jammy Bits.  Though the Peaches and Cream Scones offer an alternative recipe that uses butter and milk as it’s liquid, the primary recipe calls for the addition of:

  • salt
  • egg
  • heavy cream

I used the cream and have no regrets! 🙂

I generally am not a fan of boxed mixes that include “fruit” because normally they taste fake.  That is not the case with this mix.  From the mixing of the ingredients to the baking, the aroma of fresh peachiness was exceptional.  Thankfully, I was not disappointed when it came to the taste test.  I had my daughter, who is much more of a “food snob” that I am, try one of the scones and she was equally impressed.  That say something!

The one thing that I will do differently the next time I make these is rather than making eight generously sized scones, I will make them smaller, aiming for 12-16.  Even at half the size, paired with morning coffee or afternoon tea, you will have a tasty and satisfying treat.

As Tracey also mentioned, the Scone Mix Magic page offered by King Arthur Flour provides even more options for using your scone mixes.

King Arthur Flour often has sales on their mixes.  Keep an eye out.  You will want to have a few of these mixes on hand just in case!

Have a safe and blessed Memorial Day weekend.

 

Food Friday – Good Morning!

18 Friday May 2018

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Low-fat Fruit and Bran Muffins

Good morning!  Well, it may not be morning right this minute, but we are doing our best this week to share some recipes that will help to make your mornings good!

Breakfast is my favorite meal.  And breakfast baked goods are some of the best – doughnuts, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls.  And we won’t even talk about pancakes, waffles, and french toast.  Unfortunately, these morning baked goods can also be some of the highest in calories.  Who knew that degree of deliciousness and caloric content are directly proportionate. 🙂  And muffins, a breakfast staple, are some of the worst offenders when it comes to “not the best choice” as far as nutrition goes.

My goal this week was to try to find a delicious tasting muffin that would not break the “relatively healthy for you” bank.  I found King Arthur Flour’s Low-fat Fruit and Bran Muffins.

The basic ingredients are:

  • milled flax seeds
  • 100% bran cereal (not flakes)
  • skim milk
  • applesauce
  • brown sugar
  • salt
  • oil
  • an egg
  • unbleached all-purpose flour
  • baking powder
  • raisins
  • dried apricots
  • shredded carrot

That’s a wholesome list of ingredients.  I did make a few substitutions.  I used almond milk instead of skim milk, olive oil, and dried pears instead of the apricots because I already had the pears.

The wet ingredients are mixed together and then , in a separate bowl, the dry ingredients.are combined.  The wet ingredients are then added to the dry.  All can be easily mixed with a spoon.  The batter is the scooped by 1/4 cupfuls into 12 prepared muffin tins.  (I got 14 muffins and my tin was filled to the top before baking.)

The Low-fat Fruit and Bran Muffins have a slightly chewy texture.  They are not overly dense, but definitely don’t have the same texture as a muffin batter made with more fat and sugar.  In my opinion, this makes them seem more filling, more meal-like.  I have eaten a muffin with my morning coffee and been satisfied until lunchtime.  Granted, I am getting up a little later than I do during the school year (7:30 seems decadent compared to 5 am) so breakfast and lunch are a little closer together. 🙂

If I make this recipe again, the one thing that I will definitely do is add a touch of cinnamon.  The recipe calls for no added flavor – spices or extracts.  I do think that there is plenty of room in the basic recipe to customize it to your particular liking – variations in the choice of fruits and flavorings.

If you make these muffins, please share your customized recipes!

Wishing you all a summer filled with good mornings!

For those who are interested, each muffin is 6 Weight Watchers points.

King Arthur Flour’s Low-fat Fruit and Bran Muffins

 

Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls

My wonderful partner in crime, Kris of course, gifted me with the latest edition of KAF’s Sift Magazine a few weeks ago. As soon as I saw it, right on the front cover was this photo of these wonderful looking rolls, cinnamon roll-esque, not with cinnamon filling but strawberry filling – I knew I HAD to make these. I would have made them regardless if I was making them for our Food Friday, but making them for this was much more fun!

I present to you King Arthur Flour’s Roasted Strawberry Cream Cheese Rolls. I think what grabbed me even more than the photo that had me drooling, was the fact that it says “Roasted Strawberry”, I’ve never roasted strawberries. I was intrigued. And then, as if I needed more of an incentive, you can use either fresh OR frozen berries! This is something that can be made year-round, not just during strawberry season since frozen berries are acceptable.

The ingredient list looks lengthy, but it’s really not. Most items are likely already in your pantry:

DOUGH

  •  milk
  •  cream cheese
  • unsalted butter
  •  granulated sugar
  • large egg
  •  active dry or instant yeast
  •  salt
  •  King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

FILLING

  •  fresh or frozen strawberries
  •  granulated sugar
  •  Instant ClearJel
  •  ground cinnamon
  •  grated orange peel (zest)

FROSTING

  •  cream cheese
  •  confectioners’ sugar
  •  vanilla extract
  •  milk or cream

I actually did this in 2 days, not because it was long and complicated, but because of time constraints I was working with, it just was easier for me. So, I roasted the berries one day, took them to the point just before thickening them and popped them into the fridge, to be finished the next day. And it worked well!

The only out of the ordinary ingredient is KAF’s Instant ClearJel. I happen to have it around because once I tried it for other projects, I’ve grown to really appreciate a thickener that’s instant – no heat required.

And cheated a bit, as I used was my latest acquisition from KAF, the Orange Citrus Oil. I used it in place of the of the orange zest called for in the berry filling. Worked wonderfully! (I now have the trio as I already have the Lemon Oil and Lime Oil, they have come in handy so many times and little goes a long way!)

So it was really easy to pull together, I roasted the berries and got the filling mixed up in a jiffy, the dough was easy to prepare as well. The dough was also really easy to work with, nice texture and it behaved beautifully. I hate it when I have to argue and fight with a dough I need to do certain things!

Once I patted (then I used my rolling pin because it actually was quicker!) the dough into the prescribed shape, I slathered the filling on and rolled it up.

Now, after you get that done, it’s time to cut the rolls. I had a super sharp knife, but still wish I’d gotten some dental floss to use to cut them, less mushing. And I wish I’d known about the idea (I read it in the reviews after the fact!) to refrigerate the roll for a bit BEFORE cutting – less smushing out of the filling.

Once they’re cut and in the pan, you let them rise for about an hour, then bake! While they’re baking, I mixed up the frosting in a small bowl. After they come out of the oven, you let them cool to lukewarm then put the icing on. I think mine were a bit too cool, as it really didn’t “melt” a bit, but that’s ok – tastes just fine!

I absolutely love these rolls, they are so yummy! The roasted berries are a wonderful thing, I wasn’t sure about what they would  bring to the party, but they are definitely a star guest! Wow, they add all kinds of yummy goodness. Jeremy is already asking for more and has all kinds of ideas for fillings, I’m in trouble I think…

 

Food Friday – No-Knead to Fear Making Bread

12 Saturday May 2018

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from Kris B.

Peasant Bread

And here we give you what you should have gotten last week…:-)

I love bread.  Almost any kind of bread.  For many, homemade bread carries with it the notion that it is a difficult and time-consuming task.  Nothing is further from the truth.  Think about it.  Every culture has some kind of bread as part is its basic diet.  This is because these breads are easily made from staple ingredients.

King Arthur Flour’s recipe for Peasant Bread (originally from Alexandra Stafford’s book Bread Toast Crumbs) is a simple no-knead bread recipe that makes a perfect everyday bread.  It consists of only five ingredients:

  • all-purpose flour
  • kosher salt
  • sugar
  • yeast
  • water

It is also necessary to coat your baking pan with butter or some other cooking spray to prevent sticking.

In a mixing bowl, all of the dry ingredients are whisked together.  Lukewarm water is then added to form the dough.  This dough is a very sticky dough.  Fortunately it is left to rise in the mixing bowl so there is no need (no pun intended) to handle as it’s stickiness would make that difficult.  The dough rises until it is doubled in bilk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Mine took only an hour.

After this first rise, the dough is transferred to a 3 quart (or 2 one 1 quart) oven-safe pan or bowl.  During its short second rise, 10-20 minutes, the oven is preheated to 425 degrees.  The dough is ready to go into the oven when it is almost doubled.  It bakes at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  The temperature is then reduced to 375. The large single loaf bakes for 20-25 minutes and the two smaller loaves for 17-20 minutes.

The loaf in the photo is the single large loaf.  For my family, it makes no sense to make two loaves.  Bread disappears quickly!

The Peasant Bread is a basic loaf, but that makes its quite versatile.  It’s soft and chewy texture makes a nice sandwich bread, garlic toast to accompany soup or salad, a nice snack with a little butter, or, as I first had it, a fantastic piece of toast with peanut butter!

Well actually, I cheated a bit.

I am still working hard to shed some extra pounds.  My love of both bread and peanut butter can easily derail that effort!  This bread recipe has no fat in it.  That helps. And, my friend Joni introduced me to an awesome peanut butter substitute, PB2 Powdered peanut butter.  I know what you are thinking.  How can that substitute for the real thing?  Trust me.  I am serious about my peanut butter.  Usually I make it myself, but I am willing to go this route for a while.  It really is pretty good!  2 TBS or powder mixed with a TBS of water.  Because homemade peanut butter lacks the oil found in commercial peanut butters, the texture and consistency of the PB2 is not a whole lot different from what I’m used to.  And it’s 50 calories for a 2 TBS serving as compared to 180 calories in the same size serving of regular peanut butter.

There is also a PB2 variety with chocolate.  Mix this with a little frozen whipped topping and you have a tasty low-calorie dip for fruit.

Sorry for the diversion.  Back to the Peasant Bread…

It’s easy and it’s delicious!  Try it.

from Tracey G.

No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread

So, I’m on this wanting to eat well kick, not diet necessarily, just better fuel going in. I usually buy a really low-calorie bread for my sandwiches, like 35-calories-per-slice kind of thing when I’m trying to watch what I’m eating. Honestly though, it tastes like how I imagine cardboard would taste – like nothing. With wanting to eat better, I decided there has to be something I can make at home – that way I know what’s going in and I can slice it how I want it. That brought me to a mission, to see what I can find that’s reasonable in calories, and, offers some nutritious benefits.

After searching around King Arthur Flour website, I found quite a few that sounded good, but this recipe, No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread, had the lowest calories per slice (120), and offered a super easy preparation. That cinched it for me, this was what I was making. I could easily keep myself in bread for my sandwiches and my new favorite lunch before or after I hit the treadmill: toast spread with peanut butter, sprinkled with cinnamon and then topped with banana slices. It’s got all kinds of goodness!

The recipe is close to a batter-style bread, and it’s a dump it all together combining of the ingredients, and then mixed up in your mixer. You run it for 3 minutes, then dump it into your well-cooking-sprayed pan. Next it rises for an 1 to 1 1/2 hours and then you bake! Yay!

Ingredients include:

  •  lukewarm water
  •  orange juice
  •  melted butter or vegetable oil
  •  molasses, maple syrup, dark corn syrup, or brown sugar corn syrup
  •  instant yeast
  •  Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk (if you don’t have any dry milk on hand, you can use lukewarm milk for the water and dry milk)
  • teaspoons salt
  • 3 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

Well. Huh. This did not go as planned at all. I’ve made it 3 times now and all three have turned out looking like bricks of banana bread. The first two I thought were operator error – I used regular whole wheat flour, instead of the White Whole Wheat Flour it calls for (more on that a bit farther down). That’s what happens when you don’t pay attention to the recipe you’re reading. Ugh. So, I dug into the reviews and it sounded like I was letting them rise too much – then when they hit the oven, they rise and then deflate. Ok, must be the regular whole wheat flour I used – that was my solution to this problem.

But let me say right here though – I really liked how it tastes, it’s not pretty by any means, but tastes pretty darned good.

Anyway, after the first two loaves, I read the recipe again, and even read their blog post dedicated to this bread (click here for that post). That’s when I noticed I used the “wrong” flour. Ok! That’s what happened, yes, I can turn this fail around! I grabbed the last bit of my White Whole Wheat Flour and started a third loaf. Yep, my third attempt.

Maybe I should be of the mind “three strikes you’re out” with this because once again, a brick shape, but I’m not. I’m fairly positive that I definitely let this one over-proof as it kind of overflowed the edges of the pan. This is a new thing for me because it doesn’t rise like a regular loaf, and you’re not supposed to let it get as high as you would a regular loaf – so I was in new territory for me here, not used to looking for different rising criteria, and this one qualified as a bit different! So, I’m fairly confident that contributed to the fails today.

I want to like this bread, I want to make this bread and have it turn out like their photo of how it should look. So, I know as soon as I get some more White Whole Wheat Flour I will be back into the laboratory kitchen to try again. However many times it takes to get a win with this darn recipe!

I’d also love to be able to say “make this now! It’s easy and turns out perfect!”, but I can’t because it hasn’t yet for me. It’s so ridiculously easy, if you can mix up a quick bread, you can do this one too. But, it’s the rise that seems to be fussy, although their blog post on it shows it doing beautifully. So, it depends on how adventurous you’re feeling or if you’re a gambler, lol. It has great taste even if it doesn’t rise to the occasion for me, but that  doesn’t mean it won’t for you! If you try it – let me know, I’m curious as to the results you get!

Food Friday NOT!

06 Sunday May 2018

Posted by in Food Friday, Life Happens

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*** OUR MINDS ARE TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE DUE TO SYSTEM MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADES…AND CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL ***

There is more truth to the above this week than we’d like to admit.  Tracey and I are fairly well-organized when it comes to selecting, making, photographing, and posting our weekly recipes.  Most of the time that works in our favor.  Then there are weeks like this past one that make us realize that even the best laid plans can be upended in the blink of an eye.  

All that to say, we have no recipes to share this week.

We talked early in the week.  Settled on the final details of this week’s post and actually felt like we were on track, maybe even ahead of the game, but only for a brief shining moment.

Here’s how our week went:

This past week was my last week of classes.  I am now heading into finals week.  This meant that my office has been a revolving door with students coming and going trying to check grades, turn in missing assignments, beg for extra credit, get help on final projects, and…you get the point.

Then, Weber and I got word that a very dear family friend passed away and her memorial service was to be held on Friday.  Friday is the day that I don’t teach and have alloted to finishing up blog details.  That obviously wasn’t going to happen as the city where the funeral was held was a three-hour drive each way for us.   That meant a definite delay in posting for me until Saturday.

Tuesday morning Tracey was made royalty by her dentist when she earned a crown thanks to an unruly tooth.  There were issues that made “the coronation” a bit more stressful than it should have been, but in the end, she was indeed crowned.  Tuesday evening, Tracey had to attend sex education classes to help the feral kitties that live in her neighborhood.  Well, sort of.  It was en educational class about capturing feral cats and taking them for low-cost spay and neutering.  Definitely a worthwhile endeavor.  But it required giving over another evening.

Wednesday morning, I was at school and I get a text message from Tracey with a link to a very serious sounding message from Harry’s school saying that the entire district (a small district, but still) was on lockdown.  The message gave no details as to why and said that no district phones would be answered and no students would be released.  Parents were advised to stay away from campus.  How scary is that?!  The school finally released the kids for the day at 11 am.  That for sure puts a crimp in mom’s work plan for the day!

However, we still had a contingency plan to get everything done.

Wednesday evening, a got a message that I was needed to sing as part of the choir for a funeral at my own church.  That service was Saturday.  Now my contingency plan was in jeopardy.  This new wrinkle meant that things would  get done later in the day on Saturday than I had hoped.

Then Tracey’s Plan B was foiled when she lost power and Internet on Thursday due to nasty storms in her area.

We were beginning to feel like the universe was conspiring against us baking and posting our recipes this week.

Did I mention that we both also had Capture Your 365 prompts due Tuesday as well?

This morning, as I was drinking a final cup of coffee before getting dressed for today’s funeral, I sent a message to Tracey suggesting that we admit defeat this week.   She was willing to concede with no argument whatsoever.

So, this sob story is what you get instead.

Real, raw life.

Once that decision was made, it felt like a hundred pounds had been lifted from our shoulders.  Sometimes you just have to admit that you can’t take on anymore at the moment.  That is difficult for two perfectionists.  Usually we can talk each other through the stressful weeks. When we were both feeling it, there was no talking anyone through anything.  We had to bow to being gentle to each other and gentle to ourselves.

A little bit ago, I got a message from Tracey saying that this month’s Bakealong recipe is somewhat of a “retread.”  It is rugelach, which we did at the end of last year.  The only difference is that this time it has a savory rather than sweet fillings.  We are thinking that we will shift this week’s recipes to next week and omit the Bakealong week this month.  But, you never know what life has in store for us!

Stay tuned…

Mix It Up Friday – Circles and Bars

29 Sunday Apr 2018

Posted by in Food Friday, Mix It Up Friday

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from Tracey G

Buttermilk Doughnut Mix from King Arthur Flour

I’m really glad it was mix week – I’ve had one heck of a week that has not left me in the best of dispositions! To give you an example, one of the mornings getting Harry’s breakfast ready before school, I went to get the new Hershey’s syrup out of my cabinet. Somehow, my 90% full KAF Vanilla fell, the cap shattered and I watched at the very least, 1/3 of it pour out onto my kitchen floor. Now, I’m sure you’re all aware of vanilla prices these days so I know you’ll understand when I say I was literally almost in tears!

And that’s just one of the things this past week, so yep, I was ready for something easy and yummy. Enter the King Arthur Flour Buttermilk Doughnut Mix. This qualified as easy and it gave me a chance to play with my Doughnut Pan I’d bought from them awhile ago! Yes!

Ingredients you supply are simple:

  • Eggs
  • Melted Butter or Vegetable Oil
  • Milk or Water

That’s it. As most of you know since I mention it enough, I am watching my cholesterol, so I used the vegetable oil instead of melted butter, and water instead of milk. Mixed it up in one bowl, poured into my prepared-with-cooking-spray doughnut pan and baked about 10 minutes. I got 8 out the batch, they state 6 as the norm. Another thing about their doughnut mixes, I know Kris has mentioned before, is that they give you two individual packages of mix – and each makes 6. Which works out really nicely I think!

I just made an easy glaze I kind of whipped up by winging it, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and some corn syrup, and added some pink color. Spooned it over and added white sprinkles. Done.

This is not necessarily a “plain vanilla-type” doughnut, it does have a hint of cinnamon as well. So, don’t expect a “plain” doughnut, even though it’s very light, it’s still there. But I guess I will leave this on the review of Harry-the-9-year-old:

“I love your doughnuts mom!!” and he ate 3-4 of the 8… ’nuff said.

from Kris B.

Trail Bar Mix

I too am thankful that this was mix week, but not because my vanilla shattered all over the kitchen floor; it was just a super busy week (as is evidenced by the fact that we are posting Food Friday on Sunday. :-))

I go in fits and spirts of making homemade granola, but have never gotten on the granola bar making bandwagon.  When I saw the King Arthur Flour Trail Bar Mix, I figured it would be a good first step toward homemade trail bars.

The Trail Bar Mix contains whole grain oats, cane sugar, oat flour, cranberries, whole millet, chia seeds, molasses, flax seeds, cornstarch and salt.

To this mix you add:

  • 1/2 stick melted butter *
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon water*

*The mix offers slight variations in the amounts of added ingredients depending on whether you prefer chewy or crunch bars.  I made the chewy bars using the above list of ingredients.  For crunch bars, the water is eliminated and the amount of butter is increased to 3/4 of a stick.

One of the reasons that I have shied away from making bars is that I don’t regularly keep all of the grains and seeds in my pantry.  Making the bars from a mix relieves that burden!

I loved the texture of these bars.  anything with oatmeal in almost always is a winner for me.  I found these bars to be a tad too sweet.  But I must add here that I have not had any sugar other than that which is naturally occurring in fruit for six weeks or so.  No cookies or baked goods!  It’s killing me, but the scale is happy. 🙂  Anyway, that may be why these bars tasted overly sweet to me.  That said, the rest of my family gobbled them up!

 

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