Sweet Cardamom Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 C warmed heavy cream

1/4 C sugar

1/4 C butter, softened

1/2 t salt

1 t cardamom

1 egg

3 C flour

2 1/4 t dry yeast

Directions:

Add ingredients to bread machine in order given.  Select 2lb white loaf cycle.

Optional - brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar just prior to bake cycle starts.

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust:

Combine 2-1/2 C flour, 1 t salt and 2 sticks cold butter in food processor. Slowly add 1/2 C ice water until dough holds together. Flatten into two discs between plastic wrap. Chill for at least an hour.

Pie:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Melt 1/3 C butter in saucepan then slowly whisk in 1/3 C flour. Add 1-1/2 C milk and 1-1/2 C water and simmer until thickened. Season with salt, pepper, parsley and thyme.

Roll out bottom crust and generously fill with cooked shredded chicken, 2 cooked sliced carrots, 1/2 can green beans, 1/2 cooked chopped onion and 1/2 can corn. Pour liquid over top and cover with top crust.  Vent, brush with milk and bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT advocate the eating of chickens (chickens are your friends, NOT food !) but this pot pie is just SO darn good !

Fresh Strawberry Scones

Quick and easy, these scones highlight fresh, sweet berries....

Fresh Strawberry Scones

Ingredients:

2-1/2 C flour

2 rounded T sugar

1 T baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 stick butter, cut into small pieces

1 C sliced strawberries

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Use a pastry cutter to incorporate butter.  Gently fold in strawberries. Mix in eggs and heavy cream until just moistened.

Transfer dough to a parchment-covered baking sheet. Pat in a 3/4-inch thick circle.  Cut into 8 wedges.  Brush wedges with additional heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 18 minutes or until golden.

Blueberry Bread Pudding with Maple Syrup and Blueberry Sauce

This is a deliciously easy recipe to make for a special breakfast.  Since you assemble it the night before, you just have to pop it in the oven in the morning.

Bluebery Bread Pudding with Maple Syrup and Blueberry Sauce

(serves 4)

Six 1" slices day-old round loaf (homemade or bakery) white or country bread

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 Cup fresh or frozen Maine blueberries

6 eggs

1 Cup milk

1/4 C maple syrup

1 t. vanilla bean paste or extract

Cut bread into 1" cubes.  Place half the cubes in a single layer in a buttered 8" baking dish.  Cut cream cheese into 1/2" cubes and space evenly over bread cubes.  Top with blueberries and remaining bread.

In a small bowl, whisk eggs, milk, maple syrup and vanilla. Pour over bread mixture, pressing down with the back of a spoon or spatula to soak all the bread evenly.

Cover pan with foil and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, remove from refrigerator and preheat oven to 350.  Bake covered for 45 minutes, then uncover and continue to bake an additional 30 minutes until top is golden brown.   While pudding is baking, make Blueberry Sauce and heat some additional Maple Syrup.  Serve warm with Blueberry Sauce and Maple Syrup drizzled over top. Add an optional dollop of heavy cream whipped with sugar, cardamom and vanilla.

Blueberry Sauce

1/2 Cup sugar

1 T cornstarch

1/2 Cup water

1/2 Cup frozen Maine blueberries

Combine sugar, cornstarch and water. Boil in small saucepan, whisking to combine, for 2-3 minutes until thickened.  Add blueberries and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring gently until berries burst.

~adapted from Mary Janes Farm magazine~

Grilled Steak and Onion Rigatoni with Mozzarella Cream Sauce

Last night I had a chuck steak all ready to grill for dinner but when I took a closer look, it was marbled with tons of fat and I realized to cook it whole wasn't going to work...so I cut it up into tiny pieces and created this awesome pasta dish !

Grilled Steak and Onion Rigatoni with Mozzarella Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

1 box rigatoni, cooked and drained

1 small chuck steak, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 T olive oil

1 large onion,sliced thin

Handful of fresh spinach

1 T butter

1 C cream

1 C shredded mozzarella

Directions:

Grill the steak pieces in a grill pan on the stovetop in olive oil.  Remove when slightly browned and keep warm in a bowl.  Add onions to same pan and saute until softened and brown, season to taste with salt and pepper.  Remove and add to bowl.

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium high heat.  Add cream and heat until just bubbling around the edges.  Stir in shredded cheese until melted.  Add spinach and steak and onions.  Pour sauce over rigatoni and mix well.  Garnish with shaved parmesan.

Happy Valentine's Day

These vanilla shortbread cookies are tiny - only about an inch and a quarter across - which makes them easy to pop into your mouth a few at a time.  I frosted them with glaze that I tinted three different shades of pink.

They were a big hit with my Valentine !

MINI FROSTED VANILLA SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Cream 2 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter with 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar.  Add 1T. vanilla bean paste, 1 t. baking powder and 2 cups flour gradually, on low speed.  Mix until just blended.

Form dough into a ball, flatten and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment. Roll out dough and cut out cookies with mini heart cutter. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes until light brown around the edges.

For the icing, whisk together 1-1/4 cup of sifted powdered sugar, 1T milk and 3/4 t. vanilla extract.  Tint a third of the glaze with one drop red food coloring, another third with two drops red food coloring and the rest with three drops.  Dip twenty cookies into each tinted glaze to cover just the top and let dry completely.

Store at room temperature up to a week or freeze.

Makes approximately 60 cookies.



Cinnamon Vanilla Bread

CINNAMON VANILLA BREAD

Add 2 T. of sugar, 2 T. vanilla bean paste and 1T cinnamon to a regular white bread machine mix. Comes out yummy, slightly sweet with a nice vanilla taste accented with cinnamon.

Speaking of vanilla bean paste, if you are still using imitation vanilla extract - STOP !!! Once you try vanilla bean paste, you will never use anything else. It even has the flecks like in quality vanilla icecream. The taste is out of this world !

You can get it online from Amazon, King Arthur Flour or at any Williams-Sonoma store.

Tomato Pie

Tomato Pie

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2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup ice water

3 large ripe tomatoes, sliced thick and sprinkled with salt in colander

4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

Handful of fresh basil leaves, julienned

2 cups grated cheese blend (mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, cheddar, etc)

1/2 cup mayonaisse

Salt and pepper to taste

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Combine flour, salt, sugar and butter in food processor. Pulse until blended. Add ice water in slow steady stream pulsing just until dough holds together, about 30 seconds. Flatten dough into disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out dough and pat onto bottom and sides of tart pan. Bake crust for five minutes, then remove from oven and reduce heat to 400 degrees.

Arrange tomato slices over crust, sprinkle with bacon and basil. Mix cheese and mayo in small bowl and spread over tomatoes. Salt and pepper. Bake pie 30 minutes or until top is browned and bubbly.

~recipe courtesy Carla Stashis Hagen~