Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits

I really like biscuits.  I like them for dinner on my birthday, with mom's meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  These are more breakfast-y.  We had them with eggs, bacon, and sausage, but we had them at dinnertime.  I saw somewhere, I can't remember where, they were calling it Brinner when you eat breakfast for dinner.  I don't really like that name.  We call it "breakfast for supper," because that's what we always called it.  This recipe came from the Southern Living cookbook I'm going through.  In the past, after several bad experiences, I have shied away from recipes where you have to roll out the dough.  Usually for biscuits, though, you can make them "drop" biscuits instead of rolling them out.  I decided to just make up the dough and see how it was, and proceed from there...

Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (I had some of this leftover from a birthday cake I made, so I used it...I don't know that I would buy it just for this, next time I'll try it with 3 cups of all-purpose and see how it is...also I didn't sift it, even though it says to)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
1 cup raisins
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup sifted powdered sugar (again, I didn't sift it)
1 1/2 tbsp milk

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; cut in 3/4 cup butter with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.  Add raisins and 1 cup milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened.  Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, and knead 4 or 5 times.

Roll dough to 1-inch thickness (at this point I discovered I could just flatten it out with my hands...this made me happy...it was easy to flatten and stretch the dough into a big circle and cut from there).  Cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter (I used the bottom of a glass because I still don't have a real biscuit cutter; maybe I'll get one now though).  Place on greased baking sheets.  Brush with melted butter.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Combine powdered sugar and 1 1/2 tbsp milk, stirring until smooth.  Drizzle glaze over warm biscuits.  Yield: 15 biscuits.

These came out perfect.  Just right.  And, I had the leftovers on the 3 following mornings.  I wrapped 2 of them in a paper towel and warmed them up in the microwave for 1 minute and they tasted just as good as the first night.  That is not typical of biscuits at all (at least not mine) so maybe there's something to be said about using cake flour?  I don't know...really good recipe, and definitely one we'll have again.

Cherry-Glazed Chicken with Toasted Pecans

Second recipe this week with both cherries and pecans.  I am on a roll.  This once came from Simple & Delicious, and indeed, it sounded very simple, which I appreciate.  I don't mind complicated recipes, if I'm in the mood and it's not 95 degrees out.  I did have to have the oven on for this, but I didn't have to be in the kitchen once I threw it in there, so it was fine.

Cherry-Glazed Chicken with Toasted Pecans
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup cherry preserves (I used Polaner All Fruit)
1 tsp onion powder
2 oz fontina cheese, thinly sliced (I used provolone, since I didn't see fontina at Walmart...and why would I?  I was at Walmart...I used my smart phone right there in the store to see what a good substitute was)
2 tbsp chopped pecans, toasted

Preheat oven to 375.  Place chicken in an ungreased 11x7 baking dish (I did spray it with cooking spray because sugary things stick to dishes when they cook...).  Top with preserves; sprinkle with onion powder.  Bake, uncovered, 18-22 minutes or until 165 degrees.

Top with cheese; bake 4-6 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with pecans.

Of course I liked this one.  I left one piece of chicken plain, with no cheese or nuts, and scraped the preserves off, for Nathan.  He liked it.  I didn't put any pecans on Emma's...she still didn't like it.  Sam had everything on his, and he didn't really like it (but he did eat it because he's awesome like that).  Steve and I both thought it was great!  Alas, I cook for everyone, not just he and I, so I won't be making this one again, at least not anytime soon.

Bread Fish Fry

In the spirit of "there's a first time for everything," here is my first recipe containing fish on New Recipe Night.  I have well over 600 posts on here, and none of them have been for fish or contain fish.  I do not like fish.  At all.  I don't like how it smells or the texture of it.  We had it a few times growing up, and nothing bad ever happened to me from eating it (unless you count gagging) but I have never developed a taste for it.  Because of this, many of my children also think they do not like fish.  My oldest has tried several varieties of things at buffets, and likes crab rangoon and scallops now.  Good for him.  My two youngest have never tried anything up to this point. 

So why the change?  Well, my sweet youngest, who is 6, had a chance to go fishing with his dad and an older man that goes to church with us and also works with my husband.  They caught 8 fish.  I tried to encourage them, prior to the trip, to catch and release, so that I wouldn't have to do anything with fish that they would potentially bring home.  That is apparently not the kind of fishing that George does, though.  However, he is a full-service fisherman.  Not only did he take all 8 fish home, chop off whatever parts needed chopping off, scale them, gut them, whatever it is you do to get them ready for eating, he did all that.  He brought them to work, on ice, for Steve the next morning.  And, he hand-wrote a recipe for what to do with them.  You may be thinking at this point that I would have had to cook them.  But, glory be, I had to work!  So Steve made this!  He said it came out awesome.  Nathan had seconds.  Sam liked it.  Emma said the more she ate it, the less she liked it.  But she did eat some.  They brought some to Grampie, who called later to say how much he liked it.  So, due to the rave reviews, I said I would post the recipe on the blog.  Here it is, typed out in George's format.

Bread Fish Fry
1. Put 1/4 cup milk in a bowl and set aside.
2. Put 3/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp basil in small bag (like gallon ziploc) and shake it up
3. Place either bread crumbs or crushed corn flakes in a plate and set aside (will need 1 1/2-2 cups)
4. Beat a couple of eggs in a bowl.
Now
1. dip each fillet in milk, wet both sides
2. put wet fillets in flour mixture (1 at a time) and shake til coated
3. put coated fillets in the egg and coat completely, then...
4. put fillet in plate with bread crumbs (or corn flakes) and set aside til all fillets are coated in this manner (coat both sides of fillets)

Put 1/4 inch of oil in fry pan and heat almost to the point of smoking (med high not super hot) fry fillets til golden brown.  Should take 2 1/2-3 minutes per side when heat level is right.  Add more oil if needed as you go.  We serve these as fillet sandwiches with our favorite cheese and tartar sauce. Our family loves 'em!

What do I love about this?  That Nathan got the whole experience of catching, preparing, eating, and sharing the fish.  I love that George took the time to take them fishing, and then went to the trouble of getting the fish ready for us (which I'm sure must be a disgusting and gross job) and THEN took the time to hand-write a recipe for us telling us the best way to eat them!  He wrote it on a piece of notebook paper, and it's going in my keeper book just like that.  The whole thing was so cool.

I never tried the fish, although Nathan did save me some, and assured me that there was no skin left on it (a concern I had shared with them...in the past, I have seen fish skin on my fish sticks and it turned my stomach).........it got rave reviews from so many other quarters...he said I could try it on leftover night....we'll see.........I don't even know what category to put this recipe in.  I don't want to start one for "fish" since it seems highly unlikely that I'll need it again...I guess meatless, because we do know several vegetarians that still eat fish.

Chicken, Pecan, and Cherry Salad

Mmmmmmm I love pecans.  And fruity salad.  So of course I had to try this one.  This is the type of thing I know not all the children will eat.  But I know that I will like it so much that I still make it, and then make them something else quick.  Like cereal.  Or a sandwich.  From Simple & Delicious.

Chicken, Pecan, and Cherry Salad
8 cups torn mixed salad greens
2 pkg (6 oz each) ready-to-use grilled chicken breast strips (obviously you could use your own chopped cooked chicken here instead to save on the cost of these ready-to-use ones)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese (I don't think I like blue cheese...I used shredded Parmesan)
2 tbsp dried cherries
Vinaigrette:
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
6 tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk together the first 6 vinaigrette ingredients; gradually whisk in oil until blended (I always put dressing ingredients in a tupperware cup and shake the daylights out of it).  Pour over salad; toss to coat.

I only used half of the amounts of lettuce and chicken, since I knew only 3 of us would be eating this.  But I kept everything else the same.

This was awesome!  Very fast to make, perfect for a hot Sunday after church.  I loved loved loved the pecans.  I knew I would though.  Definitely keeping this one and we'll definitely have it again.

Quesadillas

Of course I have made quesadillas before...the Corn & Black Bean Quesadilla recipe on here is one of our family's favorite things to eat.  When I saw this recipe for quesadillas in the Southern Living Cookbook I just started working through, I liked how these were made in the oven instead of being fried in a skillet.  I totally did not put the fillings in that this recipe recommended, so I'm just going to write what I did instead.  I intended to make this with chopped cooked chicken, but ran short on time today and had none prepared, so I bought a package of the ready-to-serve chicken breast strips that you can buy in the lunch meat section of the grocery store.  You know, by the bologna.  I'm sure it has all kinds of bad additives in there, but I'm also sure that if I hadn't bought it to make dinner easier, I would have talked myself into going out to dinner, where we would've spent way more money and eaten much less healthier (due to quantity, if nothing else, since it's not like this can be seen as a healthy meal...).

Quesadillas
2 tbsp butter, softened
5 flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese (we used shredded Mexican blend)
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 pkg (6-7 oz) ready-to-serve chicken breast strips
Salsa and sour cream for serving (although no sour cream here...)

Spread butter on 1 side of each tortilla.  Place tortillas, buttered side down, on ungreased baking sheets (maybe I got butter everywhere doing this...oh well); set aside.

Combine cheese, bacon, and chicken; spoon evenly over half of each tortilla.  Fold tortillas in half, pressing lightly.

Bake at 400 for 5 minutes; turn quesadillas and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts and tortillas are lightly browned.  Cut into wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream.

I forgot to even serve it with salsa.  These came out pretty good, and none of them burned.  Usually when I make them in a skillet, the first few turn out perfect, but as the skillet gets hotter, the last couple are usually QUITE browned...maybe even a bit black.  I eat those because I don't mind it.  But these all looked roughly equally goldenly brown.  The youngest did not partake, having instead chicken nuggets and applesauce.  But everyone else liked them.  In conclusion...this was messier and no easier than frying them in a skillet, however I did like how they looked in the end...

Apple Chutney Chops

It seems like it has been a long time since we had pork chops.  I just got my latest Simple & Delicious in the mail, and when I saw this recipe I thought it would be a good one to try.  I think chutney is, roughly, a hot fruit salsa type thing.  Now I will google it and see what it says...okay here's what wikipedia (a source I always trust) says about chutney: it "is a family of condiments from South Asian cuisine that usually contain some mixture of spice(s), vegetable(s) and/or fruit(s)". So my rough definition was pretty close.  We had this with mashed potatoes and green beans, because in the picture with the recipe, they have mashed potatoes on the plate beside the meat and I thought it looked good.

Apple Chutney Chops
4 cups chopped peeled apples
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup honey
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp canola oil
4 boneless pork loin chops

For chutney, in a large saucepan, combine the first eight ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 10-15 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add pork chops; cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until 145.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with chutney.

Okay this was pretty good, and pretty easy.  We had 4 pork chops, and 5 eaters.  Way too much chutney.  We didn't even use half of it.  That seems wasteful, since I think chutney would have a limited number of other uses.  If it was just the fruit and honey, maybe.  But by the time you add the spices, especially the curry, I think it pretty much has to go on meat.  Maybe my horizons are not broad enough, but I just threw the remainder away.  What a waste.  Otherwise, it did taste good.  Maybe if you had a larger number of eaters, or they ate more in one sitting, this ratio of pork to chutney could be corrected.  The kids didn't like the chutney anyway, only the grown-ups.  So I guess I'm not keeping this one.  But I'm still glad I tried it.

Apple Berry Crumble

This is one of the last recipes I have marked from my Christmas cookbook.  This is berry season in Maine, so it seemed like a good time to make this, even if it was a stupid day to have the oven on (see a previous post for insight on why the heat doesn't matter to my cooking schedule).  From $5 Dinner Mom, and taken to home fellowship.

Apple Berry Crumble
2 apples, peeled and cut into chunks
1 pint (2 cups) blueberries (I used some of the last of last year's frozen stash)
1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Topping:
1 cup quick oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 7x11 or 8x8 inch glass dish with cooking spray.  Gently toss the fruits with the sugar and lemon juice in the prepared dish.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Cut in butter with a pastry blender until crumbles form.  Pour topping over the fruit in the dish.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream (pictured without either)(haha).

 This came out great!  Once I started scooping it, someone asked if it had rhubarb in it.  I replied with an emphatic NO, but then did see that the apples could have been mistaken for rhubarb.  Even my son who does not like strawberries liked this.  It was very yummy.  It didn't look as good as some of my crisp/cobbler recipes have when it came out of the oven, but it still tasted good, so I think that's mostly all that matters.

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This is the last recipe I have marked to try from $5 Dinner Mom!  This might be a new record for me, finishing a Christmas cookbook from my mom by July instead of into the next year...this sounded yummy, and easy to make by hand or in the bread machine (which is what I did).  For a while I was keeping the Boboli pizza crusts in my freezer, after buying them very cheaply at the bread store.  But I realize that I just don't like them.  They are cardboardy if you buy the wheat ones, and just not that good.  So I decided to try this one.  We had this with shredded pork, pineapple, red onion, and mozzarella on top (Big Kahuna Pizza, which you can find if you're interested by searching for the name in the search box at the top of this page).

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
 1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 tsp if you buy in bulk)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
additonal olive oil and garlic salt, if desired

By hand:
In mixing bowl, combine water and 1 cup of the white flour.  Add the yeast, sugar, salt, and oil.  Whisk together to make a "spongy" dough.  Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Add remaining 2 cups flour to the sponge and stir with a wooden spoon.  When the dough becomes thick enough, knead it by hand for 6-8 minutes on a floured surface or in a floured bowl until it reaches the consistency of soft baby skin (I have never heard it described like that, and frankly I find it a bit disturbing).  Knead the seasonings and cheese into the dough.  Place in a greased bowl and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Once the dough has doubled in size, place it on a lightly floured work surface.  Sprinkle flour over the dough and on the rolling pin.  Roll out the dough to desired size.  Brush edges of dough with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt if desired.

Bake crust for 8 minutes (what temperature, she does not say...I did 400).  Remove from oven and load with toppings.  Bake full pizza 8-10 minutes more.  Slice and serve.

Bread machine:
Add water and olive oil to bread machine pan.  Add the flours.  Create a well in the center for the yeast and add the yeast.  Add sugar, Italian seasoning, and salt.  Set the machine to dough cycle and proceed as above.

Makes 1 16" thick-crust pizza or 2 8" thin-crust pizzas or 4 4" deep-dish pizzas.

I made this on my round pizza stone at it totally covered it.  This makes a lot of crust.  Steve said he thought it tasted better than he expected, especially knowing that it had whole wheat flour in it.  The kids all liked it, too.  So I think this is my new pizza crust.  Steve's only complaint was that it had "not enough toppings," but my pizza recipe was for a 12" and this was a 16" crust.  Ooops.

Cinnamon-Coffee Pecans

I like pecans.  They are expensive but worth it, unlike some other things I've tried.  I especially like them toasted.  So when I saw this in the Southern Living cookbook I'm working through, I knew I would like to make them for home fellowship, a safe place to bring things that, if I made them at home, I would be the only consumer of.  I halved this recipe since these nuts are so dang expensive, but here it is in the full format.

Cinnamon-Coffee Pecans
 3 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp ground cinnamon
dash salt (how do you halve a dash of salt?  I did a sprinkle)

Spread pecans in an ungreased 10x15 jelly roll pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes (I only did 9, and should have only done 8 because a few of them burned and I had to throw them out).

Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat until sugar and coffee dissolve, stirring often.  Add pecans, and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.

Spread pecans in ungreased pan.  Bake at 300 for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes (I only did 10 because they looked perfect at that point).  Cool completely; store in airtight container.

I snacked on a few of these, and so did my sister-in-law, who was visiting.  They are very scrumptious.  Perfect to add to an appetizer spread or whatever you do with these like this besides just eat them.  A keeper for sure.

Corn Dogs

One of my favorite summer foods is corn dogs.  I know you can buy them at the store and bake them in your oven, but they never taste as good as the ones at the fair, in all their deep-fried yumminess.  So I saw this recipe in the  Southern Living cookbook I'm working through, and I thought, what the heck, I'm just going to try it.  So I did.  I've been trying to take more pictures of the things I make, but I have too much self-respect to post a picture of this attempt.

Corn Dogs
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup diced onion (I didn't use this because I don't recall it being in fair corndogs...I used 1 tsp onion powder)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
10 hot dogs
vegetable oil

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, making a well in the center.  Combine egg and milk; add to dry mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Insert 8" or 10" wooden skewer into each hotdog, leaving a 2-3" handle.  Dip each hot dog into batter, coating completely.  Use a spoon to help coat hot dogs, if needed (more on this later).

Pour oil to a depth of 3 or 4 inches into a large heavy saucepan; heat to 375.  Fry hot dogs in hot oil 2-3 minutes or until browned.  Drain on paper towels; serve.

They make it sound SO simple.  Of course I knew it wouldn't be as easy as all that.  My first problem was getting the batter to stick to the hot dogs...their helpful suggestion of "use a spoon" wasn't all that helpful.  I went from trying to batter them in the bowl, to pouring the batter into a tall glass to dip the hot dogs in to...this worked for two of them, before the batter level got too low and only went halfway up the hot dog.  At this point I could have made more batter, because that method was effective, but I had exhausted my cornmeal supply.  So then I poured the batter out onto a plate and rolled the hot dogs around in it.  That didn't really work either.  So only two of these corn dogs looked remotely normal.  The rest had patchy batter all around it, like some kind of skin disease.  I did fry them in oil.  At first it did take 2 or 3 minutes, but as the oil got hotter, it started taking like 30 seconds, and I was afraid of something bad happening with that hot hot hot oil.  So I took it off the heat (verrrry carefully) for like 5 minutes, then resumed frying these poor excuses for corn dogs. 

All that being said, they actually did taste good.  Sam said it was worth it and I should totally make them again, but he is wrong about that.  I guess it will just be a summer-time, fair-type treat.