>Maple Oatmeal Muffins

>My entire family was home and awake Saturday morning. La Petite was up earlier than usual to babysit for her adorable cousin, Amigo was home from school and had no Forensics meet or sporting events, and both Chuck and I were up and at ’em. Having everyone here at once is a big enough deal that I baked. I love to bake, and I like cooking brunches, but we never seem to have the right occasion to celebrate with a brunch or breakfast. This time, I picked a muffin recipe to treat the entire family.

Whole wheat pastry flour has become my go-to for baked goods such as muffins. If you don’t have it, go ahead and use all-purpose flour. It’ll work just fine.
Ingredients for Maple Oatmeal Muffins
1 cup quick or old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup milk
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions for Maple-Oatmeal Muffins
1. Prepare muffin tin for 12 standard size muffins.
2. In a medium bowl, combine oats and milk. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. Stir maple syrup, melted butter, and eggs into the oats mixture.
5. Add wet ingredients all at once to dry. Stir until just moist; batter may still be lumpy.
6. Add half of the chopped pecans.
7. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full. Sprinkle with remaining nuts.
8. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes. Cool for ten minutes, if you can wait that long. Serve warm – with coffee, of course.
Daisy’s notes:
Use real syrup. The cheap kind in the plastic bottles? Forget it. Get real, pure, maple syrup. Look around; someone near you may have had a good maple sap season and have some to spare!
This recipe turned out slightly dry. Next time I might add a bit more milk or butter. It wasn’t a problem; everyone in the family ate them and pronounced the muffins “good.”
Raisins might work in these, too. What do you think?

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>Mac and Cheese Bake

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Sometimes life gets ahead of me, and cooking supper just doesn’t feel worth the time and effort. Last night I almost – almost, but not quite – gave in and dug a frozen pizza out of the oven. I decided, instead, to go with a fairly easy recipe for comfort food. This is the kind of recipe that is easy to make and much more satisfying than the alternative.

Incredibly Delicious Mac & Cheese Bake

1 can condensed cream of chicken (or celery or mushroom) soup
2 cups milk
2 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella
1 package (16 ounces) macaroni, any shape. I used elbow mac.

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water. Drain.
2. In a separate bowl, mix condensed soup, cheeses, and milk. Stir in cooked pasta. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Cover.
3. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

The cheeses called for were actually Parmesan and Mozzarella. I vary mine according to the kinds of cheeses in our refrigerator.
Add-ins are good. I added 1/2 cup of diced ham, 1/2 cup frozen peas, and a handful of fresh basil. Sprinkle it with ground pepper and serve!

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>Election Day and Homemade Bread

>Today is a major election in my neighborhood and state. Yes, I know, it’s April. It’s not a presidential year, either. In fact, it’s not even a Senate or Congressional election. Trust me, folks, in Wisconsin this is big.

Meanwhile, I’m hyper. I need to do something to fill my time in between filling out my ballot this morning and watching the results tonight.
Meanwhile, I’m still fatigued. Exhausted doesn’t even cover it. Hyper? I don’t have enough energy to really get anything done.
Solution: I’ll make bread in the bread machine. I’ve posted this in the past, and it’s worth repeating. I recommend local honey if you can find it. I bought mine last fall at the Farmers’ Market.
Honey-Wheat Bread with Oats for the Bread Machine
Add the ingredients as they are printed into the bread machine pan.

1 cup old-fashioned oats
1-1/2 cups water (add more if dough is too dry in 1 tbs increments)
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups white bread flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon whole wheat gluten – optional, but it’ll rise better.
2-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place all the ingredients in the pan, using the least amount of liquid and adding more if needed, as seen below. Set for 1 1/2 lb. loaf. Select Medium or Light Crust, Wheat course, and press start. Tip: Stay home and enjoy inhaling the lovely aroma of baking bread.

Observe the dough as it kneads. After 5 to 1- minutes, if it appears dry or stiff, or if the machine sounds like it’s straining to knead it, add more liquid 1 Tablespoon at a time until dough forms a smooth, soft, pliable ball that is slightly tacky to the touch. Tip: put a little hot water in the honey-coated measuring cup and use this for the additional water, as needed.

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>Southwestern Beef

>I haven’t tasted this yet; it’s simmering in the slow cooker right now, even while you read this. Normally I test recipes before I post them, but the meat was still a solid block from the freezer yesterday.

Ingredients:
2-3 lb. beef roast
1/4 cup onion, sliced
1/2 cup beef broth or stock
3/4 cup salsa (spicy to your taste!)
olive oil for browning meat
Brown meat on all sides in olive oil. Place in slow cooker on top of onion, with broth and salsa.
Start by cooking on high for 1-2 hours.
Turn to low and simmer for 4-6 hours or until tender.
Slice across the grain or pull apart.
Serve on rice or as filling for fajitas or burritos.
Just imagine the aroma in my house!! Shhhh: I’ll clean that litter box as soon as I get the coffee started.

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>Gumbo!

>I saw a recipe for vegetable gumbo on a wellness page, and (of course) with just a few modifications, we had gumbo for supper. I’ve made gumbo before, and I’ve even posted recipes for gumbo and jambalaya in the past. I was especially proud of creating this batch with ingredients we already had in the house. Stock the pantry and freezer well, and it’s easy to cook from scratch.

Daisy’s Gumbo
Ingredients
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
(Oops, I was out of celery. I’d fed the last stalk to the bunnies that morning.)
1 stalk celery, diced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic
1 14 1/2 can tomatoes (I prefer them diced)
2 cups corn (fresh or frozen kernels)
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
Optional: Italian sausage and/or shrimp, 1/2 lb. each
Creole seasoning or hot sauce to taste
Ridiculously Simple Directions
Before starting: Brown Italian sausage (if adding meat) and remove from pot.
1. Over low heat, begin cooking onion and peppers in olive oil. Add garlic (and celery). Simmer for a few minutes.
2. Add tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and one Tablespoon of Creole seasoning. Heat through.
3. Add stock. Bring to a boil.
4. If you’re adding meats, add the sausage now.
5. Peel and dice shrimp. Add 3-5 minutes before serving.
Serve with rice!
I made this in my cast iron Dutch oven. It worked like a charm. Heated up evenly, nothing stuck to the pan, it was perfect. Did I mention that Chuck gave me the Dutch oven for Christmas? It’s wonderful.
In case you don’t like to follow back-links, here’s the Creole seasoning.
Creole Seasoning Ingredients:

2 1/2 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons garlic powder
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Store in a tightly covered jar. Yields 2/3 cup.

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>Spring Kick Off Blog Hop: Easy Rhubarb Cake

>Spring – yes, I’m a bit obsessed with watching the snow melt. Just like a pot boiling, it doesn’t go any faster with me staring out the window. But since Nina and Sarah at Recipe Lion had a February theme of Winter Warm-ups, they decided to think positive thoughts and celebrate March with this theme: Favorite Spring Recipes.

At the risk of tempting fate or attempting to fool Mother Nature, I pulled the last bucket of rhubarb out of the freezer and tried something new from a Kraft Kitchens newsletter: Rhubarb Dump Cake. It’s not a true dump cake in the sense that this cake does layer the ingredients in order, but it is a very, very simple cake.
Rhubarb Dump Cake
1 lb. fresh or frozen rhubarb, diced (about 4 cups)
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar, adjusted for sweetness of rhubarb
1 package (3 oz.) strawberry or raspberry jello
1 package (2 layer size) white or yellow cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place rhubarb in bottom of a 13 by 9 inch baking pan.
Sprinkle sugar and jello mix over rhubarb.
Whisk together cake mix, water, and melted butter until well blended. Spread to completely cover rhubarb.
Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I’m thinking of having it for breakfast with a cup of java.
And then I’ll resume staring out the windows and watching the snow melt. There’s a whole season of fresh rhubarb just waiting to burst free, I just know it.

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>Green Bean Casserole

>It’s better than you think. This one’s from Alton Brown. I found this make-it-from-scratch recipe for green bean casserole on (are you ready for this?) Swagbucks TV. I was earning a few Swagbucks watching their Food videos and saw this one. I called Chuck over to watch it, too, and we decided to try it. The recipe calls for a large cast iron skillet, but I used my Dutch oven.

Green Bean Casserole
by Alton Brown, courtesy of Swagbucks TV
Ingredients
for the topping:
2 small or 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons panko bread crumbs (regular bread crumbs will work, but not nearly as well)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
non-stick spray
for the casserole:

1 teaspoon salt
1 pound fresh or frozen green beans, trimmed, preferably blanched
1 Tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup half and half
Preheat oven to 475 F – yes, 475.
Combine the onions, flour, panko, and salt in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine. Coat a sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray and evenly spread the onions on the pan. Place the pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Toss onions 2-3 times during cooking. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside until ready to use. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees F.
While the onions are cooking, prepare the beans. Mr. Brown suggests blanching them now. I used garden beans that I’d blanched before freezing, so I didn’t take the time to do it again. So…on the with beans.
Melt the butter in a 12-inch cast iron skillet (or Dutch oven) set over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to give up some of their liquid, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and nutmeg and continue to cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and simmer for another one minute. Decrease the heat to medium-low and add the half-and-half. Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring occasionally, approximately 6-8 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the green beans. Top with the remaining onions. Place pan into the oven and bake until bubbly, approximately 15 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.

No, this is not a sponsored post, either by Alton Brown or by Swagbucks. If you’d like to sign up for Swagbucks, a fun way of earning something for nothing, there’s a button at the top of my right sidebar. If you sign up through me, I get a few “bucks” for recruiting. Other than that, I just keep having fun searching for random rewards and earning points by watching recipes that I might actually make!

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>Pan Fried Cod with Peppers

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Chuck created this recipe based on something he found in the book Dining on the Pacific. He changed the recipe enough to be called his own. He’s a great cook; I’d love to see him take over the kitchen, but then who would make sure all the Packers specialty shows were on the air? Never mind.


Here it is!


Pan Fried Cod with Peppers

Topping:

2 tablespoons of Crisco Extra Virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic minced

1 small can of minced clams, drain out and reserve the liquid

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

1 green pepper chopped

1 red pepper chopped

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with lime juice & cilantro

Pepper to taste

Preheat oil in a 3 qt saucepan. Add onion and begin to sauté. Sprinkle in sugar and garlic when onion begins to turn opaque. Sauté for another 2 minutes or until onions just begin to carmelize, being careful not to burn garlic. Add peppers and tomatoes. When peppers begin to soften, add clams without the liquor. Stir, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 tablespoons of the clam liquor. (This helps prevent the liquor from curdling and will begin to add some saltiness to the topping.) Add pepper to taste.

Fish

1 ½ to 2 pounds of Cod fillets, washed and dried. (About 6-8 pieces.)

2/3 cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon McCormick’s ground paprika

1/8 teaspoon McCormick’s ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons Crisco vegetable oil

Thoroughly combine all dry ingredients in a storage sized Ziploc bag.

Preheat oil and butter in a skillet.

Place two fillets at a time into bag and shake them until well coated.

Place the fillets into the hot skillet and pan fry until golden brown, turning once to do other side.

Continue until all fillets are done.

When removing from skillet, place fillets onto a plate with a paper towel to drain any excess oil.

Serve fish on a bed of rice with a generous portion of topping spooned over it. Serves 4.

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>Potluck with the Geeks

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Chuck was at a model train show recently. While he was gone, I realized I had a draft in my queue that I hadn’t posted yet. What does that have to do with trains? Read on.
It was the annual gathering of the model train club: a cookout-slash-potluck of the guys. They requested that Chuck bring his famous German potato salad. He did, but he did even better. Remember, these guys are geeks who identify totally with the main characters on the show Big Bang Theory.

From the left: Fizzbin Fruit Salad, Pickles Set on Stun, Photon Tomatoes, and the aforementioned potato salad.


Fruit salad:

fresh pineapple, raisins, gooseberries,

Photon tomatoes:
spicy deviled egg mix (yolks only) in plum tomatoes: use the yolks of hardboiled eggs for a traditional deviled egg mix, with the addition of smokey red pepper sauce. Scoop the seeds and pulp out of the cherry tomatoes; fill with the egg mixture and top with the tops of the cherry tomatoes.

Pickles set on Stun:
pickles marinaded in brine from Marzetti’s hot pickled yellow peppers.
Next year I think he’ll bring something that requires a pizza cutter so he can bring his new one.
Thanks, ThinkGeek. You’re awesome.

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>Yet another Basic Bread Recipe

>I feel like I can never have too many options for baking bread. Lately I’ve made at least one loaf a week, sometimes two. Home made bread makes my toast and sandwiches so much better than factory-produced loaves. Since I use a bread machine, I can accomplish this task even when I’m having a difficult day with fatigue or headaches. Just throw in the wet ingredients, then the dry, topped by the yeast. Here’s my new one that (sort of, you know me) came with the new bread maker.

Daisy’s Basic Everyday Delicious Bread
adapted from the recipe that came with my Sunbeam 5891

For a 1.5 pound loaf, add ingredients to bread machine in this order.
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons water, 75-85 degrees F. (1 minute in the microwave does the trick)
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine or olive oil (I’ve tried all three; they work exactly the same)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon non-fat dry milk powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 Tablespoon whole wheat gluten
2 1/2 bread machine yeast
Set bread machine for white course, light crust, and 1 1/2 lb. loaf. Enjoy! Your house will smell wonderful.

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