Tag Archives: easy

Mix It Up Monday – Pesto, Presto, Posto Part Two-O!

27 Monday May 2019

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from Tracey G.

When Kris was telling me of her recipe for last week’s post: Mix It Up Monday – Pesto, Presto, Posto!, I thought of this recipe and we’d discussed adding it to hers. But then I decided since it was actually a Throwback from our old blog, I’d post it for today on its own! It’s one of my favorite chicken dishes. Not only is it it so easy it should be criminal (as I state in my original post!), but the simple ingredients combine to make a sort of au jus/sauce that if I could I’d eat with a spoon by itself, lol!

I don’t think I have run across any recipe, ever, that has surprised me as much as this one. I never expected such flavor from such simple ingredients as are found in this recipe, in this combination. And it’s almost criminal how uncomplicated and effortless this dish is, lol, but yet, tastes like you put hours into it! It’s gone through some changes, and that sounds funny when I think about it, but it had a few other things as toppings along with the cheese, but I found that if I boiled it down to the basics, it was yummier and easier as less ingredients were needed to get it done.

And here we are – the ingredients. Yep. Just 3. Boneless skinless chicken breasts, prepared pesto and provolone cheese. Usually I use shredded, but thisall I could get my hands on were slices and it worked just fine of course, lol. 🙂

Preheat your oven to 400°F. While it’s preheating, time to put this together. Start by placing the chicken breasts in a 9×13 inch baking pan. The recipe calls for 4 breasts, but sometimes I only use 3 so I downsize my pan a bit.

Once the chicken is arranged in the pan, spoon the pesto over the chicken breasts. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup. I ended up using the whole 8 oz jar this time because I wasn’t thinking and contaminated it all with raw chicken by using the same spoon to scoop it out of the bowl and to spread it around on the chicken, lol. Normally I just measure out what’s needed and proceed from there. Oh well, the pesto is the best part and it was just as yummy with all of it as only a 1/2 cup, lol.

Once you get the pesto evenly spread on the chicken, it’s time to bake it. Usually takes about 35-45 minutes for the chicken breasts to be cooked thoroughly, but I always get out my meat thermometer and check at the end of 35-40 minutes or so to see where I’m at with doneness.

After you’ve baked your chicken and it’s the correct temperature for proper doneness (which according to foodsafey.gov is 165°F and can be found here: foodsafety.gov Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures), it’s time to put on the cheese! Now, here’s where I normally use the shredded provolone, but the deli-style slices worked just fine. Pop them back into the oven for 1-2 min or until the cheese is melted.

Once the cheese is melted and as browned as you’d like, pull it out and let it rest for about 5 minutes  (I’ve let it sit for 10 minutes before and had no ill consequences, lol) before serving.

I served this batch with a garlic-buttered noodle that had some green beans mixed in, it was a bit of overload on green, lol, but it’s one of the few vegetables Harry will eat these days, so I work them in a lot, lol. It is one of my favorite ways to do a quick side dish though, while the noodles are cooking I toss in a handful or two of frozen cut green beans, so that when the noodles are done, so are the beans and they’re already tossed together that way – and then you can season any way you like 🙂

Pesto Baked Chicken

serves 4

Preheat oven to 400°F

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 oz each

1/2 c prepared pesto

1 c (4 oz) shredded provolone cheese

Place chicken breasts in an ungreased 9×13-inch baking dish, spoon pesto over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 400°F for about 35-45 minutes or internal temperature in the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 165°F. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 1-2 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving.

Mix It Up Monday – Pesto, Presto, Posto!

20 Monday May 2019

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Mix It Up Monday has new meaning this week.

Tracey and I are beginning to think that we might need to redefine what a “normal schedule” is for us.  As hard as we work to plan our weekly posts and then execute that plan, it doesn’t seem to be working at all these days.  And we all know what they say about doing the same thing over and over expecting different results…

We are both in the midst of new babies in our world.  Don’t jump to conclusions!  I have a new grandson and Tracey has a litter of feral kittens at her house.  You’d think, since neither of us is solely responsible for the care of said babies, our lives wouldn’t be so disrupted by the newborn goings on, but they have been.  I was working to get through my final week of school last week while being distracted by our newest family member and Tracey has been working to confine the kitty population in her neighborhod and get them to an agency that will spay and neuter so that she doesn’t have more babies at her house.  And then there is her human boy, whose care she is responsible for.  I am only responsible for fur babies on a daily basis.

Even with all of the goings on, I have actually been cooking real meals  over the past week, though I haven’t done any baking.  I’ve done “necessary” cooking but not “fun” baking.  Unfortunarely, neither of us has any baked goodies to share with you this week.  In lieu of that, however, I am going to share my newest favorite recipe.

On Friday we went to spend a few hours with our new grand baby.  Since my daughter is recovering from a C-section and is still adjusting to the lack of sleep that comes with having a nursing newborn, I offered to bring lunch for us so she didn’t have to worry about playing hostess.  My daughter lives about 45 minutes from us – close in travel time, but far away enough that deciding what type of meal might make the trip best required a little bit of thought.  I decided that some kind of casserole would be best because that would also result in leftovers enough for at least another meal for her family.

A few months ago, I made the Bacon White Cheddar Pesto Mac and Cheese recipe from the February/March 2019 issue of Allrecipes magazine.  This was by far the tastiest macaroni and cheese I have ever had! The addition of pesto takes the standard mac and cheese flavor up several notches.

My previous favorite mac and cheese recipe is Michelle Obama’s Mac and Cheese recipe that uses pureed cauliflower instead of the traditional roux for its cheese sauce.  This link has an adaptation of that recipe, which is amazing.  As a side note, cauliflower may be the most underappreciated vegtable there is, but that’s another story for another post!  When I have a chance, I want to try merging these two recipes…use the cauliflower base, but add the pesto.  I see no reason why it won’t work, no reason why the result won’t be macaroni and cheese perfection!

Though bacon is the first word in the title of this Bacon White Cheddar Pesto Mac and Cheese, the bacon can be omitted without sacrficing the overall flavor of the mac and cheese.  It can easily and successfully be made as a vegetarian meal.  I usually make the recipe half with bacon and half without.

If you are a mac and cheese fan or a pesto fan, or, even better, a fan a both, I strongly recommend giving this recipe a try.  It is great for a family meal or a make-ahead dish for a potluck kind of event.  I’m positive that you wont be disappointed.

Bacon White Cheddar Pesto Mac and Cheese

 

Mix It Up Monday – Throwback Recipes: Lighter Carrot Cake

22 Monday Apr 2019

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Food Friday – Have Your Veggies and Eat Your Cake Too!

from Tracey G. 

Kris and I discussed doing occasional “Throwback” posts from our “training blog”, lol, the one that got us started on this team-blogging journey! So, every now and then we’ll pull in a recipe from Pixels, Plates and LOLs! Should be fun, because although some may not be King Arthur Flour recipes, they are all yummy and generally family favorites!

I made this particular recipe this past weekend for a treat – it’s been awhile since I made it, so everyone around here was happy to see it!! Enjoy!

This time of year gets me thinking carrot cake, lol. It’s not something I’ve always liked – as a kid it wasn’t my cup of tea, I didn’t like spiced cakes etc. It wasn’t that I minded veggies in my treats, not at all, I love vegetables in any form, but it was the fact of the cake being too “busy” with spices and potentially nuts in it too. (It’s also a recent thing that I like nuts in my baked goods, but still don’t like them in my cookies, lol) But then one day, it was like a switch flipped and I decided I liked carrot cake, lol.

I’d never made it myself, always just had it out or whatever, but a few years ago, when I was trying to lose the weight that came along with having Harry, I decided I wanted to make one. Well, I was appalled at the amount of fat that went into the average carrot cake recipe! Wow – I think one recipe I ran across had a full cup of oil in it, no thanks. Those recipes gave me sticker shock in the calorie information department, lol. And I didn’t have any canned pineapple around  – every recipe I ran across had pineapple in it. Then, I found this one. Now, I’ve modified it, of course, because while I may like nuts these days in my baked goods – I still don’t like raisins, lol. But I thought this sounded like just what I was looking for – a lighter version with no pineapple involved 😉

So, I made my first carrot cake. A light one at that too – and it was super yummy!! I was so happy with it, I could have my cake and eat it too! LOL Since then, I’ve made it into cupcakes and followed the recipe and made it in a 9×13″ pan. I like to do the cupcakes because then they are portion controlled that way, I am not tempted to cut a bigger piece which would throw off my per serving numbers. I can make the perfect 18 servings by making 18 cupcakes 🙂 I didn’t care for the cream cheese frosting recipe that came along with it, so I just used my favorite one, and lightened it up a little bit, best I could without losing its integrity.

First, you combine the first 5 ingredients – the sugar, eggs, egg whites, oil and applesauce, in a mixing bowl and mix until smooth.

In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients – the flour,  spices, salt and baking soda (if using nuts, those will get stirred in later when carrots are added).

I like to use a whisk whenever I need to combine dry ingredients when I am baking, it’s easy and works well.

Next,  get your carrots ready – I use my mini food processor to shred up the 3 cups needed.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients in the mixing bowl, then stir in your carrots and nuts if using.

Pour into a 13×9″ baking pan coated with non-stick cooking spray or line cupcake pans with liners and divide batter amongst them to make 18 cupcakes. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Whether it be in a 13×9″ pan or cupcakes, allow them to cool completely before frosting them.

Lighter Carrot Cake

preheat oven to 350°

1 1/3 c sugar

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

1/3 c canola oil

2 c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

3 c shredded carrots

1 c chopped walnuts, optional

In a large mixing bowl combine the first 5 ingredients until smooth. Combine the flours, baking soda, salt and spices; add to the egg mixture and mix well.

Stir in carrots and nuts. Pour into a 13×9″ baking pan coated with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Frost as desired.  Makes 18 servings.

The Cream Cheese Frosting recipe I used for this batch is as follows:

1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened (I usually use Neufchatel, but of course the store didn’t have any today, so it was the full calorie/fat deal today)

2-3 tbsp butter, softened

4 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2-3 tsp milk

In a mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and butter, mix until well blended. Add the vanilla; then add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Add 2-3 tsp milk to get it to the desired consistency for frosting the cake/cupcakes. Makes enough to frost about  24 cupcakes.

All that’s left to do is enjoy! 🙂

Mix It Up Monday – It’s Cake Simple & Easy!

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

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from Tracey G.

Vanilla Cake Pan Cake from King Arthur Flour

I’d had my eye on this cake for awhile, in fact I’d printed it off to make for fun right before the flu struck. It never got made, so I was happy to see cake recipes come up in the recipe rotation! Finally! I’d get to make this cake!!

There is a chocolate version of this cake that I’ve made before and can be found in our post Food Friday – Cake Anyone? , and it’s called King Arthur Flour’s Original Cake Pan Cake. It’s super easy and yummy as well!

But, anyway, back to the Vanilla Cake Pan Cake! This cake was a HUGE hit with my boys and myself! The hint of almond extract really gives it a great flavor. Harry has asked for seconds each time we had it, as did Jeremy – and I’m here to say it didn’t last long around here! It was gone in 2 days! I was sweating it after I took the photos, hoping at least one turned out, because the cake was already history!

I did do a double-take when I read through the recipe the first time – the cake doesn’t use eggs, milk or butter! (And you can make it gluten free too!) My kind of cake when I’m interested in my cholesterol numbers! The frosting (optional) does use butter, but they state you can use a vegan version too.

The cake ingredients are:

*Flour

*Salt

*Baking Powder

*Baking Soda

*Water

*Vegetable Oil

*Granulated Sugar

*Cider or White Vinegar

*Vanilla Extract

*Almond Extract

That’s it! It’s mixed a little differently, combine all dry I ingredients, except for the sugar, in a medium bowl. In another small bowl (I used my 2 cup liquid measure) combine the water, oil, vinegar, granulated sugar and the extracts. Then, add that mixture to the dry ingredients, and pour into a greased 8″ square pan or 9″ round pan. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting or skip the frosting and serve warm out of the oven!

The frosting is super simple and yummy as well. My guys don’t like a lot of frosting (which really kind of takes some of the fun out of my cake decorating hobby!), and this makes the perfect amount for the cake!

The frosting ingredients are:

*Butter

*Powdered Sugar

*Salt (if using salted butter omit the salt)

*Vanilla

*Water

I combined the powdered sugar, salt and butter in my stand mixer, and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and enough water to make spreadable – that’s it! Frost the cake right in the pan – that’s one of the best aspects of this cake, it’s frosted and served right out of the pan!

This cake is SO easy! It’s one of those recipes that’s fabulous to have on hand for when you need a yummy cake fix now! And if you’re out of eggs, or milk or butter (or all 3!) it doesn’t matter – you can still make and enjoy this cake!

 

from Kris B.

Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake

After a crazy month or so, we are almost back on track…and it feels good.  I must say, however, that I almost postponed writing my part of writing this post to go bake Tracey’s Pan Cake.  It looks so cheerful and delicious!  But, I am being a good adult.  I’ll get my work here done first.  Then eat Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake.  And then maybe make and eat Vanilla Pan Cake. 🙂

Pound cake is probably my favorite kind of cake to both make and to eat.  I like the making of it because it is not a fussy cake in terms of ingredients or the making process.  It is a mix it up and pour it in a pan kind of cake.  If you want it to look fancy, you can make it in a fancy pan.  No expert cake decorating skills needed.  Pound cakes also are versatile when it comes to serving them.  Serve a pound cake with fruit, with ice cream or flavored whipped cream, glazed, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or plain.  None of these possibilities is a bad choice.

The one twist to this recipe is its use of brown sugar.  The recipe calls for light brown sugar.  I had only dark and that is what I used.  This gives the cake a slightly richer flavor…and a slightly darker color.

Ingredients:

  • butter
  • light brown sugar
  • granulated sugar
  • eggs
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • baking soda
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • sour cream
  • vanilla extract

To give you an idea of how easy and low stress this recipe is, I made it at 10:00 at night after a full day of work, book group, and having had only five hours of sleep the night before.  I can honestly say that I actually enjoyed the process.  This may be because it seems like forever since I have baked something.  It may also be because I was looking forward to eating a piece of cake.

The butter and sugars are creamed together for two minutes in a stand mixer.  The eggs are then added one at a time, followed by the baking powder, salt, baking soda, and half of the flour.  The sour cream is then stirred in and the rest of the flour is added.  A one-bowl recipe, another plus!

The batter is poured into a prepared 9 or 10 cup bundt pan and baked for 55-60 minutes.  My pan may have been a little too big because my pound cake was done in 55 minutes, which is unusual for my oven.  I always have to bake things for at least the maximum time suggested and often longer.  I’m afraid that if I had left this cake in the oven any longer, it would have been on the dry side.  As it is, it’s perfect!  The Brown Sugar Sour Cream Pound Cake has a great texture; it is full but not too heavy.  I would suggest checking your cake at the 55 minute mark, or perhaps sooner if you have a “hot” oven.

It definitely feels good to be cooking and baking again!  I had a small slice of cake after I finished the photos.  Yum!  I’m looking forward to a bigger piece with some berries for dessert tonight!

Happy baking!!!

Mix It Up Monday – Bonus Mix Week: French Herb Yeast Bread

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

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from Tracey G.

French Herb Yeast Bread Mix from King Arthur Flour

Yep, things are still a bit sideways for us two here, and we are hoping to be back in sync next week for some cake recipes! But until then, we decided to divide and conquer to keep some food posts going – last week’s Ginger Bread Waffle Mix from Kris going solo, and this week my Mix Week offering, (also solo!) of French Herb Yeast Bread Mix.

This year’s gift of the actual flu (I’m so glad we all had our flu shots last fall, or I think it could’ve hit us much worse!) really knocked me back. I had about 3 days of misery BEFORE it got to the day I spent in bed, with the ability to do nothing more than stare at the walls. I couldn’t even muster the energy/wellness to watch a movie or read! And after that day, the long slow climb back to pre-flu energy levels has been a hard one. I was so grateful when last week Kris offered to go solo, because for me, even the thought of making even a simple mix felt overwhelming. So it was a sign to myself that things were on the upswing when I felt like actually making something!

Granted, I still chose the easiest of all the mixes, and this French Herb Yeast Bread Mix definitely fits the bill for easy!!! The only things you actually have to measure is about 1 1/4 cups of water and either 2 tbsp softened butter or vegetable oil (I chose the oil due to my war on cholesterol), the Herbs De Provence are already in the mix!

I plopped the dry mix, replete with all the yummy herbs measured & added for me, and the package of yeast that comes with it, into my stand mixer with dough hook attachment. (Of course all can be done by hand!) I added the water and oil and let it mix & knead until it was smooth as directed. I covered the bowl and let it rise for the hour suggested. At that point you can shape to pop it into a loaf pan, or do what I did – a free shape on a baking sheet (I lined mine with a parchment sheet instead of greasing it).

It gets another rise of about 30-60 minutes, depending on room temp etc. Now comes the baking – into a 350° F oven for 35-40 minutes. It took the full 40 for me in my oven. And it smelled heavenly as it baked!!

It was really hard to wait for it too cool before cutting it & photographing it! I love bread, and it’s always a challenge for me to wait! But, once I was able to taste-test I fell in love! This is such a yummy bread! The balance of herbs, in my opinion (and Jeremy’s) is just right. Not unnoticeable and not overpowering. It’s fabulous sliced with some butter or even just plain. But I do have plans on turning it into a garlic bread for dinner tonight – toasted, brushed with olive oil and then lightly rubbed with a cut cloves of garlic! And I think next time I make it (definitely will be a next time!) I’m using olive oil in it instead of vegetable oil for a bit of a a Mediterranean-flavor twist! I may even have to buy some of KAF’s Herbs De Provence so I don’t have to wait for a mix to arrive to make this style of bread! But, the ease of this mix can’t be beat! Give this French Herb Yeast Bread Mix a try!

Mix It Up Monday – Blueberries!

19 Tuesday Mar 2019

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from Tracey G.

Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins from King Arthur Flour

 

Trying this recipe came about in a funny way – and I changed it slightly to suit my needs. Harry loves these little blueberry muffin bite-things from the grocery store, he can whip through a box in no time flat. Jeremy said I should just make my own – but there’s a problem with that as far as Harry’s concerned, they don’t taste like the commercially-prepared version he loves. (And “blueberry” textures are different)

I had recently purchased some natural Dried Blueberries (nothing added at all) from Nuts.com. I normally buy the Juice-Infused Dried Blueberries from there for snacking, but I wanted to try the natural berries for baking. When Kris told me what recipe she was making for this week, I knew now was the time to give my dried blueberries a whirl!

I set out to make my own blueberry mini muffins that Harry would like as much as the commercially-prepared version, without all the commercially-prepared additives. And that’s how I began my search for a recipe I could work with – enter

Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins. I looked through every blueberry muffin recipe they had and I settled on this one for its simplicity.

Here’s the list of ingredients:

  • butter, at room temperature
  • sugar
  • eggs
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • vanilla extract
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • milk
  • blueberries, fresh preferred
  • sugar, for topping

The only differences I implemented are

  • 1 ¼ cup dried blueberries, soaked in hot water while I prepared the batter instead of any other blueberry versions
  • Increased milk from ½ cup to ¾ cup to offset the dried fruit
  • Used 1 tsp Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion AND about a ½ tsp Lorann Butter Vanilla flavoring

The batter mixes up really fast. Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs one at a time, then add the baking powder, salt and vanilla (or flavoring of choice of course!). Next you add the flour alternately with the milk. If preparing the recipe as written, they have you mash a ½ cup of the blueberries and add the mashed and remaining blueberries to the batter, stir just until they’re distributed evenly. For my version, I drained the now-soaked dried blueberries well and stirred them in.

Now it gets scooped into a muffin pan, and each topped with sugar then baked at 375° F for about 30 minutes for regular sized muffins. For my version, I used mini muffin pans and only sprinkled sugar on one pan of the 3. It makes 12 regular-sized muffins, and I got 36 mini muffins out of it, and baked them only about 20 minutes instead of the usual 30. I also used my tablespoon-sized scoop I’d gotten from KAF to get the batter into my pans and boy, did that make quick work of it!

These are so good! I love the texture, it’s a VERY fine crumb, a lot like the commercial versions Harry loves. For me, the dried blueberries worked wonderfully – they have a fun, slightly chewy, texture and great burst of flavor. Best of all I got Harry’s seal of approval – he told me I should package them up in plastic bags and call them Mom’s Mini Bites! I’m sure it was the addition of the Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion that gave it that just-right flavor that even I love!

I am definitely going to give the traditional, as-written  version of this recipe a try next time I make blueberry muffins, as I really liked this one my way, so I’m sure it’s good no matter what! It also has a fun provenance as well that they talk about in the intro of the recipe! If you’re looking for a lovely, simple and yummy blueberry muffin, do give Famous Department Store Blueberry Muffins a try!

from Kris B.

Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake

As an adult, blueberries have become my favorite berry.  I’m not sure why or how that happened, I just know that it did. For some reason, I was in the mood for them recently.  Usually I’m perfectly happy to toss a few frozen blueberries on top of my yogurt, but I craved fresh ones and in something baked this time.  Muffins is what first comes to mind when I think baked goods and blueberries, but I wanted to try something different so I began searching for options.  I landed on this Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake.  Coffee cake and blueberries…a perfect combo!

Somehow I seem to forget how easy cakes are to make.  Basically, it’s mix up all the ingredients, spread the batter in a pan, bake, and then eat.  This cake is easier to make than my usual blueberry muffins; it involves less work since it does not require dealing with a muffin pan, liners, and properly portioned scoops.  I need to remember this tidbit of information the next time I have a craving for something sweet.  And the blueberries make it a healthy option, right?  They have antioxidants!

One of the things that drew me to this particular recipe is that it has a “traditional” cinnamon streusel-like topping.

STREUSEL

  • sugar
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • cinnamon
  • salt
  • butter

The topping is mixed first and set aside while the cake batter is made.  Don’t tell anyone, but I mixed it and incorporated the butter by just squeezing it all together in my hands.  It works best and leaves one less utensil to wash!

CAKE

  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • baking powder
  • salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • butter
  • egg
  • vanilla extract
  • milk
  • fresh or frozen blueberries

There is nothing fancy about the cake ingredients.  It’s just basic cake stuff, meaning that you’ll almost always have the necessary ingredients on hand if you need to make a quick coffee cake.

The flour, salt, and baking powder are stirred together first.  In a second bowl, the sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla are beaten together.  I was too lazy to get out the mixer so I beat them with a hand whisk.  It worked just fine!  The one mistake I made was using my larger mixing bowl for the flour mixture.  I needed to beat the wet ingredients in that larger bowl because the dry ingredients are poured into the wet ingredients alternatively with the milk.

Like Tracey, I also added a teaspoon of Lorann Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion

At this point in my process, my batter seemed a bit heavy and dry.  Because I often have problems with King Arthur recipes being more dry than I like, I added 3 extra tablespoons of milk and then folded in the fresh blueberries.  If I had been using frozen berries, I may have waited to add the extra liquid until after adding the fruit since frozen berries bring with them more liquid than do fresh berries.

The batter is then poured, or in my case spread, into a prepared 8″ or 9″ square or round pan and the streusel topping is sprinkled evenly on top.  The cake then bakes for 40-45 minutes.  That’s all there is to it.

Not only had I forgotten how easy cakes are to make, I’d also forgotten how much I enjoy coffee cake.  In the words of Goldilocks…not too sweet, not to bland, but just right!  This cake is perfect for a breakfast treat if doughnuts send you into sugar overload.  It is also great as an afternoon or midnight snack.  I checked each of these scenarios just to make sure.

Try it!  You’ll like it!

Mix It Up Monday – Celebrate With Cookies!

18 Monday Feb 2019

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from Tracey G.

This week’s offerings are more about the stories surrounding the recipes rather than the recipes themselves but that doesn’t make them less yummy!

My planning for a class treat for Harry’s upcoming Birthday started months ago. I’d seen the Paint-Your-Own cookie stencils at my 2 favorite online places for my cookie decorating supplies – The Cookie Countess & Flour Box Bakery – and thought that would be an easy and fun thing for the kids to do. They could do them in class if they had time, or take them home. The ready-to-decorate cookies get packaged with a little brush and food color paint palette – it’s pretty neat! So a few months ago I went ahead and ordered the Birthday Cupcake stencil, with Harry’s blessing of course.

Fast forward to last week – I was as getting the rest of the supplies ready to order: cookie bags, palettes, brushes and the little bags to package the palettes & brushes in. I went to show Jeremy the stencil we were going to use and Harry decided oh no no no, the cupcake was stupid, he didn’t want that at ALL. Needless to say mama was not pleased at ALL. I was ready and willing to scrap it all. Done.

Then, I talked with Kris later and she mentioned possibly a different stencil or something. I wasn’t too sure because most of the PYO (paint-your-own) stencils Are holiday-specific etc. So, I went and looked. I ran across a llama. Now, with Fornite being the hit video game of the moment, and they have “Loot Llamas” in-game, the llama he was all for. Okaaaaaaay. Llama it will be. He’d better not change his mind again because it’s too late now!

For the longest time I used KAF’s Holiday Butter Cookies for my cookie making, but it just wasn’t working as I’d wanted it to, my cut edges weren’t staying nice and “sharp”, which I also knew was partly due to process too (cold dough etc). So, I started looking around and ran across the Bearfoot Baker’s recipe, AND her rolling/cutting method which got me the edges I was looking for and a cookie the boys really liked! Bingo!

I do modify her recipe slightly, I don’t add any baking powder at all. Here’s the ingredients list:

*Butter

*Sugar

*Eggs

*Vanilla

*Salt

*Baking Powder

*Flour

All the usual suspects as you can see. And here’s a link to her recipe and she talks about her method too!!

The Bearfoot Baker’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Her recipe is so easy and produces a really nice cookie for decorating or as Harry prefers, plain or with a soft frosting. Give them a try next time you’re in the mood to decorate some cookies!

from Kris B.

I suspect that for most kids, the first kind of cookies they learn how to make “all by themselves” is chocolate chip.  For me, it was Snickerdoodles.  I don’t know why this was the case.  I also don’t know where my mom’s recipe originated.  I only ever knew it as being on a vanilla-stained recipe card written in her handwriting and being perpetually misfiled in her recipe box.

When I got married, I no longer had mom’s recipe box at my fingertips, so I turned to the The New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (copyright 1981), which I received as a wedding gift, for a Snickerdoodle recipe.  I couldn’t remember mom’s recipe exactly, but the one in the cookbook seemed fairly close, and now has been my go-to Snickerdoodle recipe for thirty-five years.

Here is a link to that recipe:

Better Homes and Gardens Snickerdoodle recipe

At some point, I did get my mom’s recipe.  It is written in her handwriting on a clean blue index card;  her recipe varies slightly from the above – a little less flour, a little more sugar, an extra egg, and salt.  I still use the one from the cookbook.

At the beginning of last week, one of my college level classes started talking about the lack of good coffee on campus.  Since our next class meeting after this discussion was Valentines Day, I told them that I would bring coffee as a Valentines Day treat.  Someone then said that if we have coffee, we need doughnuts too.  I offered cookies instead.  That was received well.  The conversation continued with them saying that maybe we needed snacks every week.  I told them that I was good with snacks, but someone was going to have to volunteer to be our room parent and organize it all.  I had done my time in that particular role.  With that, the idea of weekly snacks quickly died.

I did keep my promise and took them fresh coffee and cookies – Snickerdoodles.  I chose to make Snickerdoodles not only because they are a favorite of mine, but also because they avoid many of the common allergy ingredients found in cookies – chocolate and peanuts or peanut butter.  And let’s face it, the cinnamon-y goodness of Snickerdoodles is the perfect companion to a good cup of coffee!

My students, who range in age from 18 to 65, were most appreciative.  And as is often the case with the younger ones, there was amazement in the fact that the cookies were homemade.  It’s funny to me how such a simple gesture of hospitality can transform the dynamic of a group of people.  We had the best time in class that day – sharing stories and ideas…and eating cookies and drinking coffee.  Very little of what we discussed had anything to do with our class material, but does that really matter?  Sometimes the most important lessons in life come from spending time getting to know others, especially in a group like this that is diverse in age, gender, race, and, obviously, life experiences.

As a bonus, someone did bring doughnuts, as well.  We had quite the feast!

It was such a great day that I may have to rethink being not only the professor, but also the room mother.

Mix It Up Monday – Soups On!

12 Tuesday Feb 2019

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Fast and Easy Chicken Stew with Dumplings

Even when the calendar and the weather don’t agree on winter, my head tells me that soups and stews are perfect winter month meals.  I had some frozen oven roasted chicken that needed to be used so I figured a hearty chicken noodle soup might be a good use for it.  I then stumbled onto this recipe for Fast and Easy Chicken Stew with Dumplings on the King Arthur website.  It sounded warm and heart; that’s what I was looking for so I gave it a try.

I must say, that when it comes to dumplings, I normally prefer slippery to fluffy, but I decided to keep an open mind and follow the recipe exactly for these fluffy dumplings.

I liked the way that the recipe was written because it presented the instructions in a way that the pacing for preparing the various components worked well – no wasted time.  The first step was to make the stew.

STEW

  •  butter
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • chicken broth
  • thyme
  • bay leaf
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • diced cooked chicken
  •  frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and/or cooked; or a mixture of cooked peas and carrots

You begin by making a roux, to which you then add the broth and seasoning.  This simmers for 15 minutes and then the bay leaf is removed and the chicken and vegetables are added.  The mixture then simmers while you mix the ingredients for the dumplings.

DUMPLINGS

I don’t normally keep Self-rising Flour.  I purchased some specifically for this recipe.  (Watch for it as an ingredient in an upcoming post. :-))  You can make your own self-rising flour by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every cup of flour.

The dough for the dumplings comes together easily.  It neither too sticky or too dry.  Once mixed, it is dropped by 1/4 scoop on top of the simmering stew.  The pot of is then covered and placed into a  350 degree oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.

That’s it!  Serve the stew and dumplings hot for a warm and cozy winter meal!

  • I did use a cup more broth in my stew than the recipe called for.
  • For me, the thyme was a little overpowering.  Next time I will probably use poultry seasoning for a more varied flavor.  I might also use a bit more Worcestershire sauce.  With almost any recipe, we have to play with the seasonings to get them “just right.”  That is part of what makes cooking fun!
  • The dumplings were delicious!  I don’t know if it is because they were baked or what, but these were the best fluffy dumplings I’ve had.  This dumpling recipe can be used with any of your favorite stew recipes, though you may have increase the liquid in your recipe a bit.

I will definitely make this recipe again.  It is good as it is, but tweaking the flavors just a bit will make it even better.  I’m always thrilled when I can find an easy and delicious one pot meal!

 

from Tracey G.

Vermont Cheddar Cheese Soup from King Arthur Flour

I’m going to be honest here, I love cheese soups – but usually they are restaurant fare because I can never seem to get the right flavor at home that I’m looking for. I’ve tried numerous times to make them at home, and the only one I’d liked up this point was the mix by Frontier Soups, sold by KAF for Broccoli Cheddar Soup. (Post for this can be found here). Well, this soup is a game changer for me – I can have my homemade cheese soup whenever I want, and I usually have everything on hand to make it!! This recipe surpassed my expectations, I am so glad I tried it!

Ingredients are simple, the only thing that is “special” for it is the KAF Vermont Cheese Powder – that is one thing this recipe would fall flat without! I will say, I discovered that this is another fabulous reason to have the King Arthur Flour Vermont Cheddar Cheese Powder on hand – I’d only originally bought the stuff for purely using on my popcorn! (I am confident though that you could use any cheddar cheese powder!)

Ingredients:

  • butter
  • celery, diced
  • onion, diced
  • carrots, diced
  • garlic, minced
  • dried thyme
  • chicken or vegetable broth
  • cornstarch dissolved in cool water
  • cheddar cheese powder (optional, for extra cheese zip)
  • extra-sharp or sharp Vermont cheddar cheese, grated
  • cream or half & half
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • cayenne pepper, or hot pepper sauce, optional

I did veer from the recipe slightly:

  • I didn’t have shredded/grated Vermont sharp cheddar, so I just used the regular shredded sharp cheddar I always have on hand.
  • Because it sounded good, the other thing I did was add a can of drained, diced potatoes. But let me also say that broccoli (or cauliflower!) would be a fantastic addition as well!
  • It called for heavy cream or half and half (I used half and half), but I think it would be ok with milk too, as, part of what thickens it a slurry of cornstarch and water. I will try it with milk, because I usually have that around, but not half and half.
  • Lastly, I didn’t use thyme because Jeremy doesn’t care for the taste, I love it, but I wasn’t interested in eating all the soup by myself!

Anyway, the base it simple. It’s a vegetable combination of carrots, onions, celery and minced garlic, sautéed in butter. To that you add your chicken broth (or vegetable broth), and simmer until your carrots are tender. At that point you add the cornstarch/water mixture, half and half (or cream), Vermont Cheese Powder and shredded cheddar and thyme. At this point you can adjust your seasoning of salt and pepper, as that’s the last thing to do, or you can season in your own bowl if you prefer! I really like that control.

I am seriously excited to add this to my recipe book – I can say it’s one that I will be making when I get the craving for cheddar cheese soup, or cheesy potato soup or even broccoli cheddar soup – maybe all of the above! Do give it a try – it’s easy and delicious!

 

 

Mix It Up Monday – Bake or No-Bake…The Choice Is Yours!

04 Monday Feb 2019

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from Tracey G.

Gingersnaps from King Arthur Flour

These cookies kind of found me this week. I went to the KAF website to find my recipe for the week, fully intending to search for some recipes with specific ingredients as this past week of being stuck home during snow storms and Polar Vortexes really hit my pantry hard, and no real chance to stock up – so I was low on butter and sugar. I knew whatever recipe I found would have to have very little butter or rely on shortening. And it also had to use a very small amount of granulated sugar or an alternative, like brown sugar.

When I started my cookie search, this recipe popped right up, before I even had a chance to recipe-search using specific ingredients! It was meant to be! It really must have been – as it relied on vegetable shortening and only one cup of sugar, I found my recipe first shot, and didn’t search any further.

These are super-duper easy to make, and that’s not an exaggeration one bit. The ingredient list is simple as well:

COOKIES

  • vegetable shortening*
  • sugar
  • salt
  • baking soda
  • egg
  • molasses
  • King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • ground ginger
  • ground cloves
  • ground cinnamon

*Can you substitute butter for the vegetable shortening? Yes; but the cookies will be soft, not crisp.

COATING

  • sugar
  • ground cinnamon

The making of the dough is really fast as well, I had these done in no time at all!

You start by beating the shortening, sugar, salt and baking soda together. After that’s blended well, you add the egg and the molasses. Next is the flour and spices, and, I whisked my spices right into my flour so it would be a bit easier – one step in the adding of them to the mixing bowl.

Once you get it all mixed up, mix your additional sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl (I use a small cake pan so I can shake/roll the dough balls easily and fairly neatly too), this will be what you coat your dough balls in. Form the dough into about 1″ balls, and then coat with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. I used a teaspoon cookie scoop and this phase went really quick! Scooped and plopped into the sugar mixture and then onto the parchment lined cookie sheet.

These are baked at 375° F, and you have your choice as to how long to bake, depending on how you want your final cookie to be – 11 min for crisp edges, slightly chewy center, or 13 minutes for a fully crisp cookie. I did both and love both!

That’s it. The hardest part about these cookies was making sure there were still enough left by the time I needed to get my photos taken! Some never even made it off the cookie sheet, Jeremy and I couldn’t stay away from them!

I am most certainly adding these to my cookie recipes, they are so fast and easy and taste wonderful, a perfect combination in my opinion! Easy to whip up if you need some cookies FAST for anything from bake sales to holiday gifts/treats!

If you like spice cookies, do give these a try!

from Kris B.

No-Bake Energy Bites

I’m not going to lie, one of my favorite weeks of baking for Sifted Together is when cookies roll back around in the rotation.  That furry blue monster on Sesame Street and I are most certainly soul mates, though I have a hard time getting behind his new philosophy that “cookies are a sometimes food.”  Well, not really…cookies are definitely should be a sometimes food; for me, they are a weak spot and may be the number one reason that I needed to join Weight Watchers.  Like Cookie Monster, I have learned to moderate my consumption.  But…I do still love a good cookie!

As I searched for a recipe, I was sort of looking for a healthy cookie recipe.  What that means, I’m not exactly sure.  I was considering those recipes that used oats, applesauce instead of fat, whole grains, fruit…and then I stumbled upon these – No-Bake Energy Bites.  They are energy bites, not cookies, despite showing up in my search for cookies, so they must be healthy!  Mind games are a wonderful past-timer! 🙂

Whatever…they use ingredients that I love and that I had on hand.  It was a win-win.

BASIC DOUGH

  • nut butter (peanut, almond, sunflower)
  • rolled oats, old-fashioned or quick
  • honey
  • dried whole milk
  • vanilla extract

All of these are pantry staples, making this a recipe that can be whipped up on the spur of the moment, especially since it is also no-bake!

Once the basic dough is mixed, then the real fun begins!  To this dough, you stir in “add-ins” of your choice – mini chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, cookie crumbs – really, the possibilities are endless.  A total of two cups of add-ins are used in the recipe.  You can choose as few or as many as you like, in any proportion, as they as they total two cups.

I added mini chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and pecan pieces in equal amounts.  Once the dough and add-ins are mixed together, the energy bites are scooped out onto a parchment lined baking sheet using a TBS scoop.  It helps to place them in the refrigerator to allow them to firm up and hold together.

Oh my goodness!  These things are fantastic!  They are the perfect pick-me-up mid-morning or afternoon snack.  And unlike cookies, at least for me, one of them is plenty.  My sweet tooth is satisfied.  Because there is so much packed into these little bites, I’m not even tempted by a second one.

As I said, the combinations of add-ins that one could use are endless.  I think that cereal pieces or pretzels would be good in addition to those things mentioned in the recipe.  The sky…well maybe the contents of your pantry…is the limit.

As I said, I am thrilled to have found this recipe.  These No-Bake Energy Bites may themselves become a staple item at my house!  The recipe makes two dozen bites and they can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.

If you give these a try, please share your add-in combos with us.

Happy baking…or no-baking, as the case may be!

Mix It Up Monday – Warm Meals for Cold Temps

28 Monday Jan 2019

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from Kris B.

Cider Baked Beans

I am a big fan of beans…almost any kind of beans.  Unfortunately, my husband is not.  If you know anything about homemade bean recipes, they almost always make A LOT of beans.  I ask a believer in black-eyed peas on New Years  day.  My preferred way to eat them is in Hoppin’ John.  Rather than try to cut down the recipe, I made the full version, which called for a pound of black-eyed peas…and I ate Hoppin’ John every day for the first week of the year!  Based on this, I should be quite prosperous in 2019!

Three weeks later, I am now ready for more beans.  I was intrigued by Bountiful Pantry’s Cider Baked Beans, which are sold by King Arthur Flour.  Half of the liquid used to cook the beans is apple cider.  In addition, one to two pounds of diced green apples are also added.

The mix comes with the beans and a seasoning packet.  To this, you add apple cider, broth of your choice, (I used vegetable.), and ketchup.  The mix offers stove top, oven, and slow cooker instructions.  Because I am now back at work and don’t have as much time to cook, I took the lazy way out…I threw the mix and all the other required ingredients into the Crock-Pot in the morning before I left for work, set it to cook on low for 10 hours, and didn’t think anymore about them until I got home that evening and smelled their deliciousness.

The “sauce” is not as thick as that of canned baked beans, but don’t let that disappoint you.  The flavor is amazing.  I’ll admit that I was a little worried about the beans being too sweet because of the apples and the cider, but they are not.  They are perfect blend of sweet and savory!

The package instructions suggest adding either bacon or sausage to the pot while the beans are cooking, which I did not do.  I did, however, slice a little bit of uncured turkey kielbasa into my bowl of beans once they were cooked, making them a meal rather than just a side of beans.  Since the kielbasa is fully cooked, this makes it easy to adapt the mix to both vegetarians and carnivores.

As tasty as these beans are, I was not keen on another whole week of bean eating, so I froze several small containers of leftovers.  Hopefully they will be just as good when defrosted and reheated!

If you make the Cider Baked Beans in a slow cooker, they take time, but no real energy on your part.  If you need them to be done a bit quicker, I have no doubt that the stove top and oven method will yield equally delicious beans.  

This mix is really good as is, but those of you who like to be creative in the kitchen can probably add a few secret ingredients to make them your own.

from Tracey G.

Frontier Soups Montana Classic Chili Mix from King Arthur Flour

I love trying the soup mixes from King Arthur Flour, because I’ve not been disappointed yet! Around this household, they wouldn’t be enough for a dinner for 3, but for us, they make a perfect lunch!

I was really anxious to try this particular mix, because chili is a popular dish around here, and it would be fun to have one that would make something a little different than I could, and easily. This soup mix fit the bill – it was easy and none of it went to waste! Plus I served it with some cornbread muffins and it was a perfect meal!

The items you add are simple: 1 tbsp vegetable oil, ground beef (although that is optional!), can of petite diced tomatoes, 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 2 tsp of sugar and 12 oz of beef broth. I even deviated away from the petite diced tomatoes because I’m the only on around here who likes them, so I just used a can of tomato sauce – and it worked just fine.

It comes together easily, brown the ground beef if you’re using it, in the tablespoon of oil. Next you add the mix, combine it with the meat and cook for about 30 seconds. At this point you add in the rest of the ingredients, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Now all that’s left to do it eat it – dish it out and dig in! And it tastes even better the next day, as I can personally attest to!

If you’re looking for a chili mix for a little something different in your routine – this is a great one. I will admit,  spicy, but in my opinion it’s just enough!

 

Leave us a comment and let us know how you are keeping warm during these cold winter days and you’ll have a chance to win our $50 gift card to be given away on Friday February 1st!

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