Thursday, December 29, 2011

Cardamom Sour Cream Waffles

Well it's been a while since I posted any new recipes. Like 11 days or something. We had a very busy but awesome Christmas week, and I just stuck to my regular recipes. I got a new cookbook for Christmas from my mom which I am excited to go through. I've already marked a LOT of the recipes to try, but first I have to finish up the books I'm already going through.

We had this recipe last night, from the latest Simple & Delicious. Thanks to a great friend and blog reader, Jill, I now have cardamom, so as soon as I saw this one I knew I'd be trying it. I wish it didn't have sour cream in the name though. If you tell someone you are making "sour cream waffles" I bet they won't be that excited. So when I write this one down in my "keeper book" I'm just going to write Cardamom Waffles. I don't even like sour cream. I'm not quite as afraid of it as I am of mayo, but it's close. However I will cook with it, I just won't use it as a condiment.

Cardamom Sour Cream Waffles
3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour from the NLC, which I love using. When you eat it you can't even tell)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla

Combine first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs, milk, sour cream, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla in another bowl. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined. Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions until golden brown.

These smelled so good while they were baking. They tasted great too. The picture in the magazine shows them being served with kiwi and banana slices on top. That didn't sound good to me at all. I had mine with strawberries, powdered sugar, and whipped cream in a can. The others had theirs the regular way, with butter and syrup (because they don't like strawberries, not because I wouldn't share). These were really good and really easy. Definitely a keeper.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Chicken & Lime Soup

This is from the Everything Soup cookbook that I have just started going through. Tonight Steve & Sam had to go to a potluck for Cub Scouts so they didn't eat this. Melissa & I and the 4 remaining kids ate it. Melissa, in case you didn't know, is my Monday Night Guinea Pig. I try new recipes on her a lot. I joked with her tonight that she should change her occupation on facebook to "guinea pig for the Page kitchen." She said she was going to, so stay tuned for that. The soup is kind of Mexican-ish. It has limes and cilantro, which I love. Melissa doesn't like cilantro; she says it reminds her of a California Roach Coach (apparently this is a place in CA where unlicensed vendors sell tacos), but she loves me enough that she still tries whatever I make, and usually likes it. Or, if she doesn't like it, she doesn't tell me. I also am changing the order of how the recipe's directions are given. I found it to be confusing and hard to follow. You might even after the rewrite, if you don't think like me.

Chicken & Lime Soup
3 limes, 2 juiced and 1 cut into thin slices
1 jalapeno, minced (I left this out because of the small children. Oh yeah, also because I'm a wimp and don't like spicy things)
1 tbsp minced cilantro, plus 6 sprigs
1 tomato, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
4 oz mild yellow cheese (I intended to use shredded Mexican cheese. I realize as I type the recipe in that I didn't use any cheese at all)
2 corn tortillas, cut into strips (I used tortilla chips instead because I love them)
8 oz uncooked chicken breast
5 cups chicken broth
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

Place the chicken in a large saucepan. Cover with water, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes (blanching the chicken). Remove to a plate and shred. Discard the water you cooked the chicken in.

In a soup pot, combine the broth, lime juice, oregano, basil, jalapeno, bay leaf, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the chicken, tomato, onion, cilantro, and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 more minutes. Remove the bay leaf (oops, need to remember to remove the bay leaf from Steve's leftovers for tomorrow).

Garnish with cheese, slices of tortilla, lime slices, and cilantro sprigs. 6 servings.

Okay even though I forgot the cheese this was so good! All the kids only ate the chicken and the tortilla chips. Melissa and I had ours with the lime slices on top. The flavor of the lime really came out, and having the tortilla chips on top made it taste fabulous. So, not a crowd-pleaser at our house, but I'm still keeping the recipe.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Sticky Buns

This is my friend Autumn's recipe. It is in the adoption fundraiser cookbook I've been going through. I have eaten these before at Autumn's house but never made them myself. So today was the day. It says to let them rise overnight, but I let them rise all day instead. I can't do breakfast stuff for breakfast, due to the fact I am NOT a morning person, at all. Even though you don't have to do anything but throw these in the oven...maybe I could do this one, then. But as my default setting, I let them rise all day and we had breakfast for supper, with eggs and sausage.

Sticky Buns
18-20 frozen dinner rolls
1 3 1/8 oz butterscotch pudding (not instant)
pecans
6 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon

Place pecans on bottom of greased bundt pan (I really wanted to use pecans but then nobody would like this but me. So, nuts omitted). Place frozen rolls on top. Sprinkle with dry pudding. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and pour over pudding. Let rise overnight. Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Remove by placing plate over bundt pan and turning over. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

The kids were so excited about these! When they were rising on the counter, they didn't look like much. Sam said "what ARE you doing with those?" I just said "you'll see." When they came out of the oven they just looked like regular rolls. But when I turned them out onto the plate they looked fabulous! Nathan saw it and ran for his siblings "COME SEE WHAT MOM MADE!!" I've never made monkey bread but Steve thought that's what it was. The sauce wasn't drippy at all (I assume because of the pudding mix) so they were very sticky on your fingers, but the sauce didn't drip everywhere. A very yummy addition.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Peanut Butter Lovers Brownies

I knew Steve would love these. This is his favorite thing to eat. It's from Tiffany's adoption fundraiser cookbook, which you should buy. It's actually Tiffany's own recipe, too. Made them for home fellowship so that we wouldn't eat them all ha ha.

Peanut Butter Lovers Brownies
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1 2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 tbsp water
1 2/3 cup chopped peanut butter cups
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 pan. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with water. Stir in 1 cup peanut butter cups. Spread into pan. Combine peanut butter and sugar in a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds on high. Stir until smooth and drop by teaspoonfuls over brownie batter. Swirl with knife. Sprinkle remaining peanut butter cups on top. Bake 25 minutes or until knife comes back clean (mine took more like 32 minutes).

These came out so amazing. Best brownies I have ever had. I'm not a huge brownie fan. Mostly I like the batter more than the baked brownie. But these, I liked the batter AND the baked brownie. Seriously so good. Everyone who tried them liked them. The kids at home fellowship don't usually like my desserts, so this was a nice change for them ha ha.

Candied Pumpkin Spice Pecans

I really like pecans, even if I don't like any of the ways to say them. I made these for home fellowship last night. Some things I can only make to bring somewhere else, because if I made them for home I would eat them all. Especially something like this, because nobody but me even likes nuts. Also nuts are very expensive right now. I guess it was a bad year for nuts due to a drought in the south or something. So as I was making these, I was thinking, "these had better be good." From Oct/Nov 2011 Simple & Delicious.

Candied Pumpkin Spice Pecans
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups pecan halves

Melt butter in large heavy skillet. Add sugar; cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat; cook until dark reddish brown, about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally (this took a very long time, until I turned the heat back up almost to medium...took maybe 30 minutes to get this color and the consistency you would need for them to stick to nuts). Stir in pie spice and vanilla; add pecans. Cook and stir 3-5 minutes longer or until pecans are toasted. Spread on foil to cool.

Okay. These weren't that good. I think it took SO long for the sugar/butter combo to get to the right temperature/consistency, that by the time it did, it snuck up on me, and I was like "holy crap it's time to add the rest of the stuff" and they scorched just a little bit. Even still, about 3/4 of them got eaten. At this time I would like to add a transcript of a conversation had between a friend's daughter (signified as FD, for friend's daughter, to protect her identity), aged almost 9, and myself, regarding the nuts.

FD: those brownies were good. Did you make them?
Me: Yes.
FD: You should make them again.
Me: The recipe will go on my website and your mom can make them, too.
FD: My mom reads your website all the time.
Me: I know. She is my best reader.
FD, pointing to the pecans: Did you make those too?
Me: Yes. Did you like them?
FD: Not really.
Me: yeah, they were hard to make, and I don't think they turned out exactly right.
FD: Well, where did you get the recipe? On the computer or something?
Me: my mom gets me this cooking magazine, and I got it from there.
FD: oh. Well, sometimes they don't have very good recipes in magazines. They don't really tell you what it's going to be like.

I thought it was sweet of her to try to make me feel better. Like, it's not YOUR fault they didn't taste good. It's the magazine's. So, I think if I made this again I would have a better idea of time frame and I wouldn't scorch them this time. But nuts are expensive. Also, the texture of the coating was like hard sticky caramel, and I wanted them to be more grainy and stick to the pecans like those cocoa almonds you can buy. So not exactly what I was hoping for, and they didn't turn out right anyway.