Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first four ingredients in large bowl. Whisk together. Place blueberries in separate bowl and place 1 tsp of dry mixture in with blueberries and toss to coat. In 2 cup measure cup add oil and egg then pour in enough milk to create just slightly over 1 cup of liquids. Whisk well. Combine dry and wet and stir until just combined do not over beat. Fold in blueberries. Fill greased or lined muffin cups until almost at the top. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-23 minutes until lightly brown on top. 

Prime Rib

Ingredients:

Prime rib
Butter
Herb de Provence
Salt and pepper

Directions:

I use the Method X from the foodwishes.com blog in making my prime rib.

#1- Leave roast out on the counter at least six hours to achieve room temperature meat.
#2- Mix room temperature butter with Herb de Provence and cracked pepper, ratio about 1-2 tsp of each for one stick of butter. The amount you use will depend on the size of the roast.
#3- Spread the herbed butter on the roast as if you are frosting a cake. Then sprinkle with lots and lots of kosher salt. Don't be afraid to use too much salt. Very little salt will actually permeate the meat. There should be enough salt that you can easily see it on the butter.
#4- Calculate cooking times by multiplying the weight of the roast from the packaging x 5 and round up to the nearest minute. Example my roast was 3.65 lbs x 5 = 18.15, round up to 19 minutes. I will actually add 1 minute to counteract the heat lost in opening the oven door so this means I will cook my roast at 500 degrees for 20 minutes. Then without opening the door I will turn off the oven and leave it alone for 2 hours.

This method produces a perfect medium rare roast. Medium rare is really the only way to eat prime rib.

This is what the roast looked like right before it went in the oven.

This is what it looked like after the process was complete. Notice the dark crisp crust. 

Perfectly pink inside. Normally you would let the roast rest for 20 minutes but with this method no resting is required. 

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients:

1 tbs butter

5-6 medium sized russet potatoes peeled

2 cups freshly grated extra sharp cheddar

2 cups half and half cream

Sliced onion

Salt & Pepper

2 tbs fresh chopped parsley

Directions:

Wash and thinly slice potatoes, thinly slice onions, chop parsley and grate cheese. Keeping all in separate bowls.  Preheat oven to 350. Spread butter in casserole dish.  Start layer of potatoes, a little bit of onion, cracked pepper and salt, spread some cheese, and drizzle cream over cheese. Repeat this layering three times or until you run out of potatoes with the final layer of cheese and drizzling of cream being more than previous layers, sprinkle parsley on last layer. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Remove foil and continue to cook for 30 minutes raising temperature to 400 for the last 20 minutes. 

Cinnamon Rolls

Ree Drummond aka Pioneer Woman, have I told you lately that I love you?? These cinnamon rolls changed my life. This is a half recipe because the original recipe makes about 50 cinnamon rolls. I timed myself start to finish as about 3 hours but there is an option to stop at about the halfway mark and refrigerate the dough. I think next time I will start the process on a Friday night and then finish the process Saturday morning. Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

Dough: 

2 cups milk 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast

4 cups all purpose flour plus 1/2 cup separated

1/2 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda

1/2 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt

2 sticks melted slightly cooled butter plus 1 stick for frosting and pan

1 cup Sugar or more 

Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

Heat first three ingredients on stove at medium heat until scald (just before it boils), then pour into a separate bowl and allow to cool about 30 minutes. Check the temperature with a thermometer. Once the temp reaches 110 degrees or less (any hotter will kill the yeast) add 2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast. Stir and then allow to sit for 5 mins.  Then add 4 cups flour and stir well with wooden spoon to combine. Cover with towel and leave to rise for 1 hour. After one hour add the additional 1/2 cup of flour and the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir well. Kneed a little until all is combined. Then cut dough on half.  Roll out into rectangle about 10x 13 inches. Pour about half the butter over the dough and spread to cover all of the dough. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the sugar and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon. Roll as tightly possible. pressing the seam. Roll log so that the seam side is down and with sharp knife cut into slices about 1 1/2 inches wide. Grease 3-4 round cake pans or 2 rectangular cake pans with butter. Place rolls in pan being careful not to over crowd since they will rise again. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover pans with Saran Wrap and allow to rise for another thirty minutes. Then bake for about 18 minutes. Make your frosting while they are baking so that it is ready to pour on when they come out of the oven. Do not let them over brown.  

Frosting:

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/8 cup brewed coffee

1 tsp maple flavoring

Small pinch of salt

Mix vigorously with whisk. Adjust amounts to taste. I added an extra splash of butter and about a tablespoon of maple syrup. Frosting should be thick, but pourable. Pour immediately over rolls after removed from oven. I let them sit a about twenty minutes; that was all I could stand before digging in. 

Chicken Parmesan

This one is so easy that my eleven year old routinely makes this on nights when mommy is busy. 

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts sliced thin

Italian bread crumbs

Canola oil

1 jar of your favorite marinara

1 can tomato sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup Parmesan cheese

Pasta

Directions:

Dredge chicken in bread crumbs.  Fry over medium heat in canola oil until golden. Does not need to be completely Cooked at this point as it will also bake in the oven. Place cooked chicken in glass casserole dish. Pour marinara and tomato sauce over chicken. Top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Serve over pasta. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Perfect lunch on a cold day! Even my two year old ate every last drop! 

Ingredients:

2 tbs oil canola oil + 2 tbs butter

1 ½ cup diced white or yellow onion

1 bunch of green onions, washed & finely chopped

1/2 bunch of cilantro, washed & finely chopped

1 jalapeños, seeds removed, diced

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbs paprika

1 tsp dried mexican oregano

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp sugar

6 roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled and diced, about 2 cups

2 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of tomato juice

4 cups of shredded chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)

½ cup lime juice – from 2 large limes

Salt and pepper to taste

Garnishes: grated monterrey jack cheese and  tortilla chips. 

Instructions:

  

Wash and chop all vegetables. Blanch and peel tomatoes. Heat the oil and butter in large pot, add the onions, green onions, cilantro, jalapeños, crushed garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper, mexican oregano, sugar, salt and pepper. Mix well and cook on medium low heat for about 15 minutes or until softened. Add the peeled diced tomatoes and cook for another 15 minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato juice and shredded Chicken. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the lime juice and remove from the heat.  Serve garnished with monterrey jack cheese & tortilla chips.

Adapted from laylita.com - I also borrowed the photo since my kids gobbled it up before I could snap a picture. 

Porcupine Meatballs

This was one of my favorites growing up. 

Meatballs:

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

Sauce:

1 large can (15 ounces) tomato sauce

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2/3 cup water

Directions:
Mix first 8 ingredients. Mix well by hand. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place in casserole dish. Salt & pepper the meatballs. Mix next four ingredients in bowl or large measuring cup. Pour over meatballs. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Serve over rice.  I typically pair this with brussel sprouts or cabbage and a good garlic bread. This is a very quick prep and most of the cooking time is spent in the oven so that I can be doing other things. Feeds 4-6.

Best Caramel Apple Pie

I've been making this pie for years and it comes out perfect every time. 

Ingredients: 

Pie crust dough for two crust pie

5-6 apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1 tbls corn starch
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

3 tbls flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 tsp McCormick apple pie spice 

1 tsp pure vanilla or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Directions:

I admit I usually use Pilsbury ready made rollout pie crusts. They are cheap and fast and taste exactly like the ones I make from scratch anyway. But feel free to use you favorite from scratch pie crust. Place first pie crust in pie pan pressing down so that there are no air bubbles. 

Toss sliced apples and corn starch. This keeps the pie from getting watery when the apples release their juices.  The best apple pies use a variety of different types of apples. I usually grab a few each of Granny Smith, Gala, and Fuji. Pile apple slices on top of crust. You want to have enough apples to create a mound.  As they cook down they will shrink so you want them to create a mound taller than the top of the dish. 

Take second crust and roll it out. Using sharp knife or pizza cutter cut into 1/2 inch slices keeping them as even as possible. Use a straight edge if necessary. Create basket weave top. This looks difficult but it is actually quite easy. There are many youtube how to videos on how to create a lattice top or basket weave top pie crust. Pinch the ends of the dough to finish out the pie crust. Preheat over to 425 degrees. 

In small sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Add flour sugar and water. Heat to a boil while continuously stirring. Allow to boil while still stirring for just a few minutes. Remove from heat and stir in apple pie spice and vanilla. 

Very slowly pour over lattice weave pie crust allowing the caramel to drip down into the apples. Try to simultaneously cover all lattice crust so that as it bakes the crust will be caramelized. Do not pour too fast that the sauce drips over the sides. I usually double this sauce and put some in a small jar in the fridge. It makes an excellent dip for fresh cold apples and can be reheated for a hot caramel over vanilla ice cream. 

Now bake at 425 for 15 min, then reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 35-40 minutes. I've been making this pie for years and it is hands down the best apple pie recipe I have ever tried. Enjoy!

Adapted from allrecipes.com-grandma ople's apple pie

Fall Chopped Salad

Chopped salads have endless possibilities. You can pretty much add any topping you like to any type of greens and pair with your favorite dressing. Here is a quick salad that we had for dinner tonight. 

Ingredients:

1/2 large bundle of Green leaf lettuce, washed

1 Fuji apple, peeled and chopped

1/4 cups chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries

1/8 cup chopped cooked crisp bacon

1/4 cup raspberry poppyseed dressing

Directions:

Chop lettuce into very small pieces, toss remaining ingredients. Adjust amount of dressing to your taste but don't over saturate the salad.  What could be easier? My kids loved the sweetness of this salad and it paired well with some lemon peppered chicken breasts. 

Orange Cinnamon Palmiers

This is a very easy recipe. They come out so light and flaky. Yum!

Ingredients:

One package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets)
Zest of two large oranges
1 cup sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

Thaw puff pastry dough. Combine orange zest, sugar, and cinnamon in bowl. Gently unfold dough onto piece of parchment paper. Take 1/4 cup of sugar mixture and spread evenly using back of a spoon over dough. Gently use rolling pin to press sugar into the dough without flattening the dough too much. Flip dough and repeat process. I found it was easier to have a helping hand, having someone hold down the parchment paper while gently peeling the dough off of the paper to flip it.

Once both sides are coved and pressed with sugar begin to fold the outer edges one inch in on both sides. Roll with rolling pin gently to press dough together. Fold in one more inch, at this point the edges are meeting at the center of the square. Press together again using the rolling pin. Then fold in half, gently rolling again to adhere the dough. Roll the parchment paper around the dough and chill for at least thirty minutes. Repeat same process for both sheets of pastry.

Remove dough from paper, trim off any unsightly ends. Slice in 1/4 inch pieces. Rotate so the the layers are facing up. Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.  They will look like little smushed cinnamon rolls but make sure to leave enough room because they will puff out into little heart shapes.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully turn using a spatula and spoon. Cook on other side about 5 more minutes.