Better Homes & Gardens Coffee Cake

This was (is) one of my favorite things that Mom used to make.  Coffee cake always reminds me of that story of Dad refusing to eat coffee cake at his friend's house when he was a kid because he thought it was against the Word of Wisdom.  Hee!  I always double the topping, so I went ahead and wrote it that way.  Duh - always more nuts and butter.

Cake:

1/4 c. canola oil

1 beaten egg

1/2 c. milk

1 1/2 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Topping:

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 T. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 T. butter, melted

1 c. chopped nuts (I like using walnuts because they're softer)

Combine oil, egg, and milk.  In a separate bowl sift dry ingredients together.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients a cup at a time, stirring well in between each addition.  Pour into a greased 9"x9" pan.

In a small bowl, melt butter in the microwave.  Add the rest of the topping ingredients and stir with a fork until the butter is completely mixed in.  Crumble over the cake batter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.  Insert a toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean, the cake is done and you can eat it!

Best Biscuits

I've been on a life-long search for the perfect homemade biscuit.  I can die now.  This is it.  There are so many things to love about these biscuits.  I always have all of the ingredients in my kitchen (no buttermilk required!).  They are equally delicious with sausage gravy or strawberries and whipped cream.  They are HUGE and buttery and delicious.  So much love.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. + 1 T. shortening (I use butter flavored.  You could also use actual butter, I suppose.)
1 cup milk
2 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Cut in the shortening until mixture becomes a course meal.  Gradually stir in milk. 

Turn onto a floured board.  (The less you knead the dough, the better.)  Roll out dough until it is 1 inch thick.  Cut biscuits using a glass dipped in flour.  Place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 13-15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.  Brush with melted butter immediately after you take them out of the oven.

Makes 6 large biscuits.  (I have been able to get 12 smaller biscuits from this same amount of dough.)

Rolls

This is one of those things I like to make when I have more time (like on Saturday or Sunday), freeze, and then bake for a random weeknight dinner.  Who doesn't love a hot roll in the middle of the week?!  (Shame on all of  you.)  The original recipe came from my friend, Shannon.  I changed a few minor things. :)

1 T. yeast

1/3 c. warm water

1 tsp. sugar

1 c. milk

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1/2 c.unsalted butter, melted

2 c. flour

3-4 cups additional flour

1/4 c. salted butter, melted

Directions:

In a small saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter.  Add milk and stir over medium-high heat.  When the edges start to bubble and it's about to boil, take it off the heat immediately.  Cool completely.  (I transfer the milk/butter to a measuring cup and put it in the fridge while I get everything else out and ready.)

Combine yeast, warm water, and a teaspoon of sugar in a measuring cup.

Combine cooled milk/butter, 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, and 2 cups flour in your mixer with whisks (I have a Bosch, so all my directions are basically for that mixer).  Mix on level 1 for a minute, then scrape the bowl and mix for another minute.

Add the yeast, which should be foamy, and 3 more cups of flour - the last cup being heaping.  Change to the dough hooks on your mixer and "knead" on level 1 for 10 minutes.  Once it's done kneading, split the dough in half and roll it out in a circle.  Brush with melted, salted butter.  Cut the circle like you would a pie until you have 16 triangles.  Roll from the wide side to the tip of the triangle to make a crescent roll.  Arrange on a 9"x 13" baking dish and freeze for a few hours, then put them in Zip-lock baggies to freeze for as long as you need.  (You may also bake them immediately, of course.)  Thaw the rolls and let them rise (that takes about 3 hours), then bake in a 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.  Brush with salted butter right as they come out of the oven.

Southwestern Pork Stew

These days I'm all about stuff I can make ahead of time.  When I make a dish on the weekend, I can taste the love when we eat it later in the week.  (I can also taste the not-love when I have to make something in a hurry on a week night and we end up eating at 7:00pm.)  We almost always have country-style pork ribs in our freezer because they are fantastic and easy all by themselves.  When I found this recipe for stew with pork ribs I thought it would be fun to try one of our favorites in a new way.  So!  Do yourself a favor and make this on a Saturday or a Sunday, then let it sit in your fridge for a few days.  You will taste the love. :)

2 T. vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

Salt

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. minced fresh oregano or 1 tsp. dried

1 T. chili powder

3 lbs. boneless country-style pork ribs, trimmed

1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes

5 c. chicken broth

1 28-oz. can white hominy, rinsed (I found it near the salsa and other Mexican foods - it's kind of corn-y)

1 T. fresh lime juice

Pepper

Directions:
Turn oven to 300 degrees.

In a heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add the onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the garlic, oregano, and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the pork ribs and turn them to coat with the spices.  Cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 6 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes with their juice and the broth.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer the pot to the oven.  Cook until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the pot from the oven and transfer the pork to a cutting board.  Stir the hominy into the broth.  Bring to a simmer on top of the stove and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes, removing any fat that rises to the top.

When the meat is cool, shred it using your fingers (really - it's the easiest way), discarding all gristle, and add the meat back to the pot.  Before serving, season the stew with lime juice, salt and pepper.

*I put the lid back on the pot (I used my Le Crueset oval) and put it in the fridge after it had cooled completely.  We ate it two days later, warming it up on the stove over low heat, with sour cream, romaine lettuce mixed with cilantro, and tortillas.  It was amazing. 

Whole Wheat Bread

This is the bread that I make every week. My kids eat it for breakfast every day.

It makes 3 loaves. I freeze them until we're ready for the next loaf. They freeze great and thaw within about an hour or 2.

In a mixer add:

2 1/2 c. very warm water

1 1/4 Tbs SAF yeast

3 1/2 c. wheat flour

1/3 c. vital wheat gluten flour

Mix 1 minute and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Add:

1 Tbs salt

1/3 c. oil

1/3 c. honey

1 1/4 Tbs dough enhancer

While mixing this all in with a dough hook, gradually add

2 1/2 c. wheat flour

Beat for 6-10 minutes on level 3 for Bosch mixer, you choose for kitchen aid.

Let dough rise until double. Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Shape into loaves and place in oiled (cooking sprayed) bread pans, then put it in the oven and turn the oven off. Let them rise until double again, take them out of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes at 350.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This soup is amazing! My kids scarf it and ask for more until it's gone.

4 c. chicken broth

2 c. water

2 cooked chicken breast halves, shredded or cubed

1 4.5 oz pkg Uncle Ben's quick cooking long grain and wild rice mix

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. butter

2 c. half & half

In a large pot combine broth and water. Bring to a boil and stir in rice (reserving the seasoning packet). Cover and remove from heat.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Stir in seasoning packet until bubbly and turn to low heat. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Whisk in half & half slowly. Cook until thickened, for about 5 minutes. Stir into broth and rice and heat until warmed through, adding your cooked chicken, as well.

I think it's good with a cup of frozen peas, too. I often use a rotisserie chicken and milk instead of half & half.

Homemade Marshmallows

This is the recipe my friend Heidi used to show me how to make these delicious treats.  I just took it right from the website.  is that okay?  we share stuff right out of cookbooks, right.  anyway, here is the link if that will make it official http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/06/springy-fluffy-marshmallows/.



Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows 

Adapted from Gourmet, December 1998

These homemade marshmallows are not only easy to make, they set as perfectly as promised: puffed and lightweight, bouncing off one another as I tossed them in the container. Even better, they toasted like a campfire charm speared on the end of a skewer, and s’mooshed between two graham crackers with a square of chocolate.

Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows

About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. (Some reviewers felt this took even longer with a hand mixer, but still eventually whipped up nicely.)

In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out (learning from my mess of a first round). Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

Do ahead: Marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

there are a lot of instructions, but it really only took 20 minutes to do the whole thing and three hours in the fridge to cool. not that intimidating really. I used food coloring to make them pink and a metal heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut them out.  the possibilities are endless on this one