Sweet-n-Spicy Popcorn

Popcorn and movies are some of those things that were just meant to be together.  But I've been getting tired of the plain old butter and salt version.  I recently saw a cooking show with a girl making unusual flavored popcorn and it inspired me to create my own.  I wanted something sweet with just a hint of spice.  I came up with this, and it was just the twist the popcorn needed.

Sweet-n-Spicy Popcorn

 What You Need:

1/4 c. unpopped kernels

2 T. butter

2 T. honey

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/16 tsp. cayenne powder

1/4 tsp. sea salt

What You Do:

Pop your popcorn, using either the kettle or air pop method.  

Please don't use microwave popcorn, you will make me cry. 

We got this cool popcorn maker for Christmas last year, so that is what I use.

While your corn is popcorn, melt the butter and honey.

Ok, so I did cheat here and melt it in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring cup.

Hey, I'm not perfect.

Stir in the cinnamon and cayenne until completely mixed.

Trust me, you don't want to bite into any cayenne clumps.

I only used a pinch of cayenne, 

but of course you can increase it if you like it hotter.

Now put your popcorn in your serving bowl and drizzle the 

sweet and spicy mixture all over the popcorn and toss to coat. 

Sprinkle with the sea salt and toss again.

That's it! So simple and really tasty.

It serves up to 4, if you're being reasonable. 

Of course I'm never reasonable with popcorn and could easily eat it all myself  :)

Smoothies

I have been trying to exercise (bleck!) so I've been walking to pick up the kids this week.  Boy, is it hot out there!  When we got home today, I decided to make some smoothies to cool us down.  Smoothies are super simple to make, and very healthy if you don't add a lot of sugar, or even ice cream (that's a milkshake, IMO) like some recipes say.  Now I would like to give you measurements on this, but I don't ever measure it.  But it always turns out right in the end!

What You Need

a couple cups of frozen fruit-

strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, etc.

Today I had strawberries and peaches.

1 or 2 bananas-

depending on how much you like bananas...

1/2 cup or so of yogurt- 

I just put a big blop of it in.

Pretty much any kind will do.  

I like plain greek yogurt as it doesn't have any sweeteners or artificial nastiness.

orange juice or milk-

I just add a hefty splash to it, and if it's looking too thick while blending, I add a little more.

I prefer OJ in my smoothies because you're already getting a dose of dairy form the yogurt, 

but today I didn't have any, so milk it was.

honey (optional)-

I find if you use a pre-sweetened yogurt you don't need to add any sweetener.  Today I used plain yogurt and it was a little tart so I added some honey

What You Do

Here's the super hard part- put it all in the blender and press the button!

I have to stir it around a bit to help the blender out, but it only takes a minute or two for it to all come together.

Delicious refreshing smoothies!

And BTW, are these mugs not the cutest things ever?

Mac & Cheese & Peas

Mac & Cheese is a favorite here for Meatless Mondays.  And of course it has to be homemade!  I have experimented for years to get a good cheese sauce and by golly I think I've finally found it.  Mmm, Cheese Sauce.  Liquid gold, it's been called, and I must agree.  Add pasta of any kind and it's called foodie heaven.

Mac & Cheese & Peas

What you Need:

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. flour

2 c. milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. white pepper

2 oz. cream cheese

8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 lb. elbow pasta

1/2 lb. frozen peas

What You Do:

Fill large pot with water and a handful of salt.

Cover and bring to boil.

While water is coming to a boil-

In medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat.

Whisk in flour and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes stirring constantly.

Add milk slowly, whisking to combine.

Add salt and pepper.

Cook over medium-high heat until thick and creamy, stirring frequently.

 While sauce is thickening-

Add pasta to boiling water and cook for one minute less than package directions.

When sauce has thickened, remove saucepan from heat and add cream cheese.

Stir until cream cheese has melted, then add cheddar cheese in 4 batches.

Stir until cheese has completely melted between each addition.

When pasta timer goes off, add frozen peas to pasta and water and boil for one more minute.

Drain and dump back in pot.

Add all that glorious cheese sauce and stir until well combined.

If it's not Meatless Monday, add cooked crumbled bacon...

Or add cubed ham and substitute broccoli for the peas...

With cheese and pasta, the possibilities are endless...

Easy Homemade Guacamole

I've never understood people who don't like avocados.  Who could resist such cool creamy deliciousness?  And of course, you can't talk about avocados without mentioning guacamole.  Yum.  I have to admit, it's my favorite part of eating Mexican food.  Before I got into cooking from scratch, I always made guacamole with the packet of seasoning you get in the produce section right next to the avocados.  That was homemade, right?  I never even knew there was any other option.  But real homemade guacamole is so easy and SO much tastier.  Once you learn how to make it, you will never touch those packets again!

Guacamole

What You Need:

2 medium ripe avocados

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. lime or lemon juice

What You Do:

Put all ingredients in a bowl.

Mash them up thoroughly with a fork.

Cover and chill for 30 min.

Enjoy with homemade tortilla chips!

It's really that simple. And so delicious!  The recipe can easily be doubled for more people. If you prefer a smoother texture, a stick blender works very well.  Most of the time I'm too lazy to pull it out, so I just use a fork.  Besides, the little chunks of avocado make it more rustic :)

This recipe freezes well, so when all those really ripe avocados go on sale, you can whip up a giant batch and freeze it in individual portions.  I use the 8 oz. wide mouth mason jars.  Just defrost in the fridge the day before you need it.

Friday Night Cookies

I just made these tonight and they are so good I had to share!

Apricot Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. rolled oats

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 t. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 c. butter

1/2 c. organic cane sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. honey

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. finely chopped dried apricots

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a medium mixing bowl, combine flours, oats, spices, salt, baking soda and powder. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and honey until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
• Beat in vanilla.
• Add flour mixture and beat until well combined.
• Stir in apricots.
• Scoop spoonfuls of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
• Let set on baking sheet for a couple minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack 

 

Makes about 4 dozen cookies, depending on how much dough you eat ;)

Pumpkin-Cranberry-Pecan Granola Bars

These granola bars actually started over a year ago.  Really, they did.  With a little seed, to be exact.  Last year we grew our first sugar-pie pumpkins.  They were so delicious!  It was awesome to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner from our own little pumpkins.  Most of the pumpkin puree got used up in making pies and muffins and cookies, but one jar was tucked away in the freezer for a day such as this.  I was digging around in there and saw the frosty dark-orange jar and decided some pumpkin-y, spicy, chewy goodness was in order.  Aha! Granola bars.  I really like making homemade granola bars.  They are very simple to make and so much healthier than store-bought.  They are also incredibly versatile.   I’ve made all sorts of combos like Chocolate-Cranberry, Apricot-Almond-Coconut, and Apple Cinnamon.  But today was all about the pumpkin.

Pumpkin-Cranberry-Pecan Granola Bars

What You Need:

3 cups regular rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

1 cup dried cranberries

3/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves (I use 1 tsp. because I’m a clove freak)

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

1 beaten egg

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree (homegrown is best!)

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Spoon into a well-buttered 9x13 baking dish.

Press evenly and firmly with buttered hands (because this stuff is sticky!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until all golden brown and puffy.

Now the hard part- Wait! You must wait until they are cool to cut them. Otherwise they will crumble to pieces.  I learned that by experience, lol.  Of course the crumbs taste just as fabulous.  So now that you’ve resisted the urge to mess with them, you can cut them up into bars or squares or whatever shape you like, and store them in the pantry in an airtight container.  I can’t tell you how long they will keep because homemade granola bars are gone pretty fast around here!

Hamburger Buns

I tried my hand at homemade hamburger buns the other day using this recipe.  They came out surprisingly well.  They were very tasty with a nice texture that held up to the burger's juiciness.  Plus they were super easy since the dough was made in the bread machine.  I increased the yeast to 2 tsp. and decreased the sugar to 2 T.  I also substituted one cup of the white flour with whole wheat.  I will definitely make these again!

Strawberry Heaven

Can you see a theme of strawberries developing? Lol.  They were on sale for 1.33/lb.  That is a rockin' deal, especially when they were actually ripe and sweet.  So hence the pie, syrup, and of course jam!  I LOVE strawberry jam.  It is my "favoritist" rivaled only by blueberry.  But since I doubt I'll ever live to see a day when blueberries are 1.33/lb., (why are they so darned expensive anyway?)  I mostly make strawberry jam in spring/summer and blackberry in fall.  There is something so very fundamentally comforting about making jam. It's something people have done for generations, preserving all the goodness of summer to enjoy throughout the rest of the year.  It is especially nice to be able to pop open a jar of strawberry heaven in the dead of winter and feel like you're eating a bit of sunshine.  If you've never made jam before, you've got to try it.  If you don't think you can manage it on your own, find an older women and ask her to teach you.  Or get a group of friends together and have a "jam session".  It may seem daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy.  The taste is phenomenally better than store-bought and you will be "preserving" a tradition that you can pass down to your children :)

Let Them Eat Pie!

As promised, here is the recipe for the Strawberry Pie I made for Easter.  We had so many strawberries I actually made another one.  It turned much out prettier because I remembered the egg wash!

Strawberry-Balsamic Pie

What You Need:

double pie crust (I like this recipe from Simply Recipes)

2 lbs. of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and thickly sliced

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup cornstarch

egg wash ( 1 egg + 1 T. water, beaten together)

What You Do:

In a large bowl, combine the strawberries, sugar and balsamic vinegar.

Mix until well coated.

Let sit for 1 hour.

Get your oven going at 350 degrees.

Strain the strawberries, reserving the liquid.

Return the berries to the bowl and sprinkle in the cornstarch, mixing thoroughly.

Line the pie plate with half of the pie crust.

Pour in the strawberries and top with the other half of the crust.

Crimp edges, then brush the top with egg wash.

Prick holes in the crust with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Bake on a sheet pan (to catch drips) in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes

Allow to cool for AT LEAST 2 hours before cutting, 4 is better.

I'm sure this would be delicious a la mode!

Strawberry-Balsamic Syrup

Now you're asking, "What am I supposed to do with all this strawberry liquid?"  Well, I certainly didn't want to throw it away, so I made pancake syrup out of it.  Simply bring the liquid to boiling in a saucepan and boil for 3 minutes.  Then reduce heat and allow to reduce until it is nice and thick.  Bottle it up and you have a yummy new syrup to try.  We had this on our pancakes on Saturday and it was really, really good. The Balsamic gives it a nice twist.

So there it is!  If any of you make it I would love to get feedback or suggestions as this is a recipe I just made up as I went along.

Easter Dinner

Roasted Rosemary-Dijon Leg of Lamb

Roasted Rosemary-Garlic Red Potatoes

Creamed Peas

Strawberry Balsamic Pie

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

I have been having a lot of fun lately experimenting with homemade syrups.  Syrups from the store are usually loaded with High Fructose Corn Syrup, and the ones that aren't can cost a pretty penny.  Making your own syrup is healthier, cheaper, and honestly it's just fun :)  The basics of making syrups are super simple, in fact, the basic recipe is called "Simple Syrup".  This is just equal parts sugar and water.  This type of syrup is good for flavoring tea, or homemade soda.  For thicker or "Heavy Syrup" the ratio is two parts sugar to one part water.  This is what you would use as a base for fruit syrups for pancakes, or, as in this this recipe, for Chocolate Syrup. The first time I made this, I was hooked.  It's so simple and so good. You will never want to buy the stuff in the brown plastic bottle again, trust me ;)

Chocolate Syrup

What You Need:

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1 cup water

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

What You Do:

In medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.
Add water and stir until combined.
Bring to a boil over medium heat.
Boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly.  (Be careful not to let it boil over.)
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour into a glass jar and store in the refrigerator.

Add 1 tablespoon of syrup to a glass of cold milk for the best chocolate milk in the world!

Best Biscuits Ever

As delicious as yeast breads are, sometimes you just want something bread-like quickly.  Hence, the biscuit, that golden, soft, flaky, buttery disc of goodness.  As with most of my recipes, this was a work in progress for many years.  I made batch after batch of biscuits using various ingredients and amounts.  Luckily I had very willing taste testers :)  As with most things, the simplest turned out the best.  Here is my simple biscuit recipe.  Warning: They are really yummy and you can NOT eat just one!

Stephanie's Biscuits

What You Need:

2 cups unbleached white flour plus extra for rolling

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup lard (yes, folks, I said lard!)

3/4 cups milk

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Cut in butter and lard with a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.
Add milk all at once and mix until combined.
Turn out onto floured surface and roll to about 1/2 inch thick.
Cut into biscuits using 3 inch biscuit cutter.
Re-roll leftover dough and cut again, repeating until all dough is used up.
Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Makes about 10 biscuits.

Serve with butter and jam for a yummy breakfast or afternoon snack.  If it's Saturday, whip up this easy country gravy and have biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Country Gravy with Sausage

What You Need:

1/2 pound ground sausage

2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

What You Do:

In medium skillet, cook ground sausage until brown and crumbly.
Remove sausage, reserving drippings in pan.
In measuring cup, whisk flour into milk.  

Pour into pan with reserved drippings.
Add salt and pepper.
Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly, stirring often.

Serve over those yummy biscuits :)

Muffin Making

I love to cook.  I especially love to bake.  Some people get stressed about cooking, but for me it's how I de-stress.  When things are crazy you will find me in the kitchen making a batch of blueberry-lemon scones, peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies or some new creation.  I think that's what I love about it, the creation. Taking handfuls of totally unpalatable stuff like ground up wheat, baking soda, and raw eggs, and throwing it together with butter and sugar to make delicious melt-in-your-mouth cookies.  Or how something as basic as flour, yeast and salt can become fresh baked bread, crisp and golden on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, whose tantalizing aroma fills the house. Today it's the scent of banana wafting from the kitchen.  Our local market has great deals on bananas when they get too ripe.  They are only 25 cents a pound right now, so today became muffin making day.  Muffins freeze really well so I can make several batches and save them for easy breakfasts.  They come in very handy on Sunday mornings when we're busy getting ready for church.  Just pop them straight from the freezer into the oven  and reheat for about 10 minutes.  You will have a warm, simple (but yummy!) breakfast in no time!

Banana Nut Muffins

What You Need:

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup cane sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup honey

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Grease muffin tin, set aside.  

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. 

 Set aside. 

 In small mixing bowl, whisk two eggs.  

Add milk, melted butter, and honey.  

Whisk until well combined.  

Add wet mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined.  

Do not over mix.  

Gently fold in mashed banana and walnuts.  

Spoon evenly into greased muffin tin.  

Bake at 400 degrees  for 15 minutes.  

Makes 12 muffins.

This are especially delicious straight out of the oven slathered with butter!

Time to Dig

It finally feels like spring around here.  The sun is shining and daffodils are up in full force.  There are rumors of another frost (noooo!) but I'm hopeful things are warming up for good.  My garden last year did not turn out so well.  Between weeds and the deer, we lost a lot of produce.  This year we have a dog to hopefully keep the deer out of the yard, and I'm building some raised boxes with some free wood from our neighbors to help keep the weeds out.  But first we have a lot of digging to do to clear all the weeds and grass that have taken over my poor garden.  We spent a good part of yesterday out there and I'm heading back out again today to work on it a bit more.  Luckily the ground is so soft and the hula hoe is so awfully handy, that it is actually going pretty quickly.  My body is protesting from the unaccustomed exertion, but it is a good tired feeling.  You can crawl into bed after you've scrubbed the dirt out from under your fingernails and feel like you've earned a good night's sleep.  So I'm off to dig some more!

For breakfast this morning I made one of my favorites, quiche with spinach, bacon and onions.  So yummy!