Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward watches from the dugout in the ninth inning of Tuesday night's loss to the New York Mets. (AP Photo/Todd Kirkland)
Easy Garlic Cheese Biscuits
Easy Garlic Cheese Biscuits
Bake time: 8-10 minutes
The shelves in my kitchen are overflowing with cookbooks. Some dating back into the 1950’s even. Even though I don’t always get to look through them as often as I would like, I can’t bear to get rid of even one of them. Last week I grabbed one of my favorites – determined to find something in it to make. It is the Betty Crocker Red Book Bridal Edition Cookbook. I received mine about 12 years ago right before I got married. I haven’t really had the time to go through it and make a lot of recipes but I was so excited to find a recipe for easy garlic cheese biscuits.
I love going to a certain restaurant just for the garlic cheese biscuits. Yes, the seafood is okay and it’s an all around decent meal but I just can’t get enough of those biscuits. I had no idea how this recipe would turn out and I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand and about 20 minutes before dinner. They came together so easily and they were delicious. I thought they were close to the same as the restaurant ones but my dinner guests insisted they were identical if not better. If you love those biscuits, I encourage you to make this recipe and judge for yourself!
What you will need:
2 cups of Original Bisquick
2/3 cup of milk
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
¼ cup of butter, melted
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
The Directions:
Preheat your oven to 450. Mix the Bisquick, milk, and cheese until a soft dough forms; mix it thoroughly until you get a soft dough. Using a spoon, drop them onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them for about 8-10 minutes or until they are golden brown. Mix the butter and garlic powder and brush it on the warm biscuits before removing them from the cookie sheet.
The first time I made these, I was in a hurry and I misread the instructions and put ALL of the ingredients into the bowl and dropped them on the cookie sheet and baked them and served them and they were just as delicious. So if you are really pinched for time, that method works as well.
Roasted Root Vegetables
Roasted Root Vegetables (with grilled chicken and brown rice)
Total cook time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Most New Year’s resolutions include eating healthier and losing weight. This is one of my favorite side dish recipes that is both healthy and takes advantage of the delicious vegetables in season during the fall and early winter seasons. It is one of my own creations and was born out of a need to come up with new and creative ways to prepare turnips! My parents live on a farm in Tennessee and my Dad has a garden year round. In fact, I came home today with a box FULL of fresh, purple top turnips. They are just beautiful. However – the flavor can vary greatly depending on how you cook them. I grew up eating them stewed with just a little sugar and I grew to love them. Yet I still am unable to convince my family to eat them that way. This recipe is unique in that it includes several root vegetables – and together their flavors blend and meld in a way that produces a very bold side dish. I love to serve this alongside a fresh chuck roast or with grilled chicken and brown rice. The dish has carrots, red onion, parsnips, and purple top turnips. Are parsnips new to you? They are a root vegetable that is related to the carrot, except they are much paler and taste sweeter. You prepare them just like carrots – remove the outer skin with a vegetable peeler and they are ready to go. Turnips are the same – using a sharp knife or vegetable peeler remove the outer skin (cut off and discard the root end). It is such a simple side dish that can cook while you prepare the rest of your meal.
Here is what you will need:
1 red onion cut into chunks
3-4 parsnips cut into 1 inch chunks
3-4 carrots cut into 1 inch chunks
3-4 small turnips cut into small chunks
2 teaspoons of dried thyme
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
The Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Toss all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Spread them out on a large baking sheet and roast them on the middle rack of the oven for about 45 minutes – 1 hour or until all of the vegetables are tender. Gently stir them with a spatula about every 15 minutes so that they are cooked evenly on all sides.
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
Asian Chicken Noodle Soup
It’s finally starting to feel like winter! And you know what that means – another SOUP RECIPE! If this is your first visit to my blog, I love a good soup recipe. I probably have enough recipes to make one every day the entire season of winter. All different cultures have some sort of soup recipe and it is so exciting to try to find new ones that are easy and delicious to make. I found this one in my food and wine quick from scratch recipes cookbook. I modified it just a bit for our family and I have been making it for 6-7 years now. It is definitely one of my favorite soup recipes. It is perfect on a cold night and just like most chicken soups – it is great when you have a cold. It has a kick of spice to it with the chili powder so you might want to adjust that to your personal tastes. One of my favorite things about this recipe is the bok choy. We live in Alabama – how often have you cooked with bok choy? Believe it or not, you can find it at most grocery stores like Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc. Just look in the produce section with the other cabbages, greens, etc. I just adore the various flavors that come together – from the Asian spices to the little zing of cilantro – it comes together to make a delicious pot of soup!
Here is what you will need:
1 tablespoon cooking oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1 onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery cut into ¼ inch slices
4 cloves of fresh garlic, smashed and minced
1, 1 inch piece of fresh ginger sliced very thin
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1/8 teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes
6 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 cup of canned crushed tomatoes in thick broth
1 ½ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast (leave them whole) or boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 tablespoons of Asian fish sauce
1 cup of cilantro leaves plus ¼ cup of chopped cilantro
1 ¾ teaspoons of salt
¾ pound of spaghetti
½ head of bok choy, cut crosswise into ¼ inch slices
¼ cup of lime juice (from about 2-3 limes)
The Instructions:
In a large pot, heat both oils over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, garlic, ginger, chili powder and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times.
Then add the broth, tomatoes, chicken, fish sauce, cilantro leaves, and the salt. Bring it to a simmer, cover it and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer it covered for about 15 minutes, until the chicken is just done. Remove the chicken and let it cool. Cook the soup for about 15 minutes longer.
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large pot of salted, boiling water until it is just done (about 9 minutes). Drain the pasta and add it to the soup. Cut the chicken up into small, bite sized pieces and add it to the soup as well. Last, add the bok choy. Bring the soup back to a simmer and cook it until it is just done, about 2 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and chopped cilantro. I love to serve mine with a nice, crusty bread to soak up all of the spicy goodness in the broth.
A note about the ingredients:
You can find the Asian fish sauce and the Asian sesame oil on the Asian food aisle at Kroger, Winn Dixie and Food World. The fresh ginger is in the produce section, usually near the root vegetables in the refrigerated cases. You can find the bok choy near the other cabbages and lettuces. If you have rice noodles on hand, you can certainly substitute it for the spaghetti. It definitely gives it a more Asian flare.
Rudolph Reindeer Cupcakes
Rudolph Reindeer Cupcakes
What you will need:
Cupcakes with chocolate icing (made from scratch or use a box mix and tub icing if you want)
Nilla wafers
Mini pretzel twists
White M&M’s (found in the bag of coconut M&Ms)
Red skittles
Peanut butter
1 tube of black gel icing
The Instructions:
Make the cupcakes and frost them with chocolate icing. It is easier to work on one "part" and put it on all of the cupcakes at one time. I started with the “faces” and put peanut butter on the back of a nilla wafer and placed it on the bottom middle part of the cupcake. Next, lightly spread peanut butter on the back of the pretzel that will come in contact with the cupcake and press them lightly into the cupcake for the antlers. For the eyes, put a small dab of peanut butter on the back of two M&Ms and place them just above the nilla wafer centered on top of the pretzels. Put a little peanut butter on the back of a red skittle (you can also use red M&M’s or brown M&M’s for regular reindeer) and place it in the center of the nilla wafer. Last, take the tube of black gel icing and put a tiny dot in the center of each M&M.
Don’t be sad if a little bit of the peanut butter is visible on the various “parts,” I thought mine looked a little smudgy. But, I was told by several very honest friends that it was not noticeable until I pointed it out. Besides, it adds to the character of these sweet little treats!
Ava's Pumpkin Cake with Homemade Cream Cheese Icing
Ava's Pumpkin Cake with Homemade Cream Cheese Icing
I will warn you – it is a bit labor intensive but it is absolutely well worth the time and energy you put into it. Fresh pumpkin works best but you can substitute canned pumpkin if you must. Every year I send my sweet husband to work with his pumpkin cake to share with his co-workers. They cut the first piece around 8:30 and by 10:30 there is none left. It is very moist and delectable with hints of fall spices. Top it off with the cream cheese icing and it is pure heaven.
MOM’s Pumpkin Cake Recipe
Ava Wilson
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 cups pumpkin puree or cooked mashed pumpkin
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour two 9 inch rounds (or a 9 x 13 pan).
Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and vegetable oil. Using a mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined. With your mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and beat well. Stir in the pumpkin (if using fresh cooked pumpkin, make sure you have gotten most of the moisture out with a cheese cloth or strainer).
Pour the batter into your prepared pan(s). Bake it on the center rack of your oven for about 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven. Let cakes cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before removing them from the pan. They need to cool an additional hour before you frost them if at all possible.
Place one layer on the cake plate and apply a liberal amount of cream cheese frosting. Trim the top of the second cake if needed so that it will lay evenly on top of the first layer. Gently place the second cake onto the first layer and frost the entire cake liberally with remaining cream cheese icing (there may be some leftover frosting, you want to use enough to cover the cake and any gaps).
Cream Cheese Icing:
1 stick of real, unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 packages of cream cheese (8 oz each), softened
2 pounds of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Using a mixer, blend the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Slowly add all of the powdered sugar until the frosting is a nice, spreadable consistency. You can store the leftover in the fridge – it is yummy with fresh strawberries.
**If you are frosting a 9x13 cake, you can halve the cream cheese recipe.
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| 0 | | Mixing up cocktails for wine lovers
Jun 18, 2013 | 162 views |
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America is a wine-consuming nation. We drink more wine by volume than any other country. Statistics prove that Americans now get this whole wine culture thing.
Most of us know our merlots from our chardonnays, feel relatively comfortable ordering from a wine list and make selections with ease from our favorite wine shops.
We also know not to pour our wine over ice or order wine and coke. At least we held these truths to be self evident until the appearance of the mixologist on the bar scene.
Sometimes the words “mixologist” and “bartender” are used synonymously. However, it is generally accepted that a bartender tends bar — pulling drafts of beer and mixing traditional drinks. A mixologist, on the other hand, is more creative, inventing drinks like apple pie and strawberry shortcake martinis.
Mixologists have also been known to revamp old classic recipes by adding nontraditional ingredients. They would likely never be caught putting something as mundane as a olive in one of their martinis.
Mixologists are now turning their attention to wine cocktails. Aided especially by the popularity of ubiquitous sweet moscato wines, they are using unusual ingredients to concoct an array of wine-laced drinks.
As summer evenings turn warmer, try shaking up one of the following concoctions to cool down:
Note: Sutterhome, Barefoot and Ecco Domani wines can be found in most grocery outlets but when making these cocktails, if the varietal is correct almost any brand will do.
Kalimotxo (cal-ee-MO-cho)
This easy-to-make, sangria-esque drink originated in the Basque region where the borders of Spain and France meet in the western Pyrenees. Don’t say yuck before trying this. Directions: Mix equal parts cola and cheap red wine. Mix in a pitcher or glass, pour over ice and garnish with a slice of lime or lemon.
You’re a Peach
From Sutter Home Winery, this recipe calls for Sutter Home Moscato, but any moscato will do. Directions: Place a scoop of peach sorbet in a martini glass. Add 3 slices of canned peaches (I used three slices of fresh Chilton County peaches.) Slowly pour 5 ounces of moscato over sorbet. Serve immediately as a dessert, but if serving as a cocktail, allow peach sorbet to slightly melt before adding moscato to make a slushy cocktail.
Lemon-Chill-O
Also from Sutter Home. Directions: Place a scoop of lemon sorbet into a glass tumbler. Slowly pour 5 ounces of sparkling moscato over sorbet. Garnish with a sprig of mint. This is reminiscent of the lime sherbet and ginger ale punch once the staple of southern wedding libations long before we became a wine-consuming culture.
Dolce Domani
Dolce (dole-chay) is Italian for sweet. This recipe from Ecco Domani is from its Winetail drink collection. Directions: Muddle/mash 1⁄2 lime with 2 1⁄2 teaspoons of sugar. Add 3 ounces of merlot and shake all ingredients vigorously in a cocktail shaker. Pour over ice and garnish with a wedge of lime.
Barefoot Walk on the Beach
From Barefoot Wines. Directions: Combine 1⁄2 ounce of peach schnapps, 1 ounce pineapple juice and 1 ounce cranberry juice in a tall glass. Top with 3 ounces of Barefoot Bubbly Red Moscato. Add ice. Garnish with peach slices and pineapple chunks.
Charonge Paradise
From Charonge Wine, producer of California white wine with natural orange flavor, available at Tyson Fine Wines and Things in Golden Springs for $9.75. Directions: For this classic drink combine 1 1⁄2 ounces of Charonge, 2 ounces of pear nectar, 1 1⁄2 ounces vodka, a sprig of fresh rosemary and shake with ice in a martini shaker. Serve in a martini glass with a sprig of rosemary.
Email Pat Kettles at pkettles@annistonstar.comVisions of cranberries danced in my head
Jun 18, 2013 | 72 views |
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When asked what part of cooking I enjoy the most, I immediately reply “baking.”
I have enjoyed baking since the first time I entered the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1963. My Tropical Coffee Cake (later named Tropical Cake) won me a trip the the Bake-Off that year in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Baking is a good avenue for creativity. I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen with new recipe ideas, some of which come to me in unusual ways. My latest idea came to me just as I was about to drop off to sleep one night.
I was thinking about how much I like fresh apple cake and wondering how I could make it even better when cranberries came to mind. Of course, fresh cranberries were out of the question because they are only available during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I opted to use dried cranberries but didn’t want to just stir in a few. Then I thought about the flavored flour I developed about 30 years ago and decided to see if I could make cranberry flour.
The first time I used flavored flour I was trying to improve my fruitcake. It worked so well that I started making other blends. Since that first experiment, I have made chocolate flour, peanut butter and chocolate flour, almond flour, butterscotch flour and a few others that were not as popular.
I combined some flour with the cranberries in the food processor and processed the mixture until the cranberries were almost as fine as the flour. What I like about using flavored flour in this cake is that rather than getting a bite of cranberries every now and then, you get a hint of cranberry flavor throughout the cake.
As the cake baked, a wonderful aroma permeated the house. I could hardly wait to cut into it and check the texture and flavor blend of the cranberries and apples. I was not disappointed. It was moist and delicious.
CRANBERRY APPLE CAKE
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup oil ⅓ cup softened butter
1 ¾ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups peeled and cubed Winesap or Rome apples Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and lightly flour a Bundt or tube pan. Combine 1 cup of the flour with the cranberries in the food processor, fitted with the steel blade. Process until the cranberries are almost as fine as the flour. It’s OK if some small pieces of cranberries remain. Combine this mixture with the remaining flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir to mix and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine oil, butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat until well mixed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until blended. Stir in apples. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into center of cake. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cake plate. Note: I have found that wrapping the cake in aluminum foil while it is still warm will make it even more moist. Email Prudence Hilburn at prudencehilburn463@att.net
Alabama offering food safety training
Jun 18, 2013 | 66 views |
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