I love trying out new recipes and finding new ways to enjoy our favorite foods. This is a busy time of year but it is even more important to do menu planning in order to enjoy healthy food during the holiday season.
I continue to work on my goal of starting another food related business. I have come up with another possible idea- starting a baking CSA (community supported agriculture). When we had the baking booth at the Oregon City Farmer's Market we would use a lot of local, seasonal produce in our baked goods and I felt so good about supporting our community in that way. I think that I want to explore ways to team up with farms and other local producers of food goods in order to make the best, healthy and organic baked goods available to people in the area. One idea I had would be to partner with a local farm that has existing CSA customers and provide them with different packages of baked goods that could be added on to their box of fruits and vegetables during the season. I could have bread, cookie or pie selections available to people. There will be more on this to come a I formulate my ideas, get them on paper and get going on this new venture in the year or two to come!
Potato Gruyere Soup:
This is a lovely soup recipe that I found Epicurious. It is such a yummy soup for a cold winter day! I took out the parsley in the recipe because I don't usually use it, however you may add it if you like.
The potato Gruyere soup.- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 3 medium onions, chopped fine
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 3 1/4 cups water
- 3 pounds boiling potatoes (preferably yellow-fleshed)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 pound Gruyère cheese, grated (about 2 1/2 cups)
- 1 tablespoon Madeira or Sherry if desired (the Sherry really adds a lot of flavor)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
Preparation:
In a heavy kettle (at least 5 quarts) cook bacon over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp and spoon off all but 1 tablespoon fat. Add onions and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring, until pale golden. Add broth and 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Peel potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Add potatoes to soup and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
In a small bowl whisk together flour and remaining 1/4 cup water until smooth and add to simmering soup, whisking. Simmer soup, covered, 5 minutes.
In a blender purée Gruyère with 3 cups hot soup broth. Stir purée into soup with Madeira, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste and remove soup from heat. Soup may be prepared up to this point 3 days ahead (cool uncovered before chilling covered). Reheat over low heat but do not let boil.
This is a combination recipe with my pie dough recipe and the filling recipe from "The Best Recipe" cookbook. The resulting pie was out of this world! It was so flaky and buttery and the filling was creamy and delicious!
The chicken pot pie fresh out of the oven.Pie Crust: Makes 2 large (10 inch) or 3 small (8 inch) single crust pies. ( I prefer my crust to be fairly thick and have a lot of room for crimping around the edge.) You can use this 1 recipe to make one 10-inch chicken pot pie with a double crust.
5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 pound- 4 sticks cold butter cut into small pieces
1 cup ice water
Mix dry ingredients together in a food processor. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs appear. I learned from making the crust for the chicken pot pie it is best to leave the butter chunks larger because it makes a flakier pie crust. Pour in ice water slowly until combined. Make 2 large disks out of the dough & wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. After 1 hour let dough set on counter for about 15 to 20 minutes until pliable. I always freeze my bottom crusts before I bake them and that way they hold their shape better.
May be frozen as dough or made into pie crusts & frozen.
Pot Pie Filling:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium-large onion, chopped fine
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise 1/4 inch thick
2 small celery stalks, cut crosswise, 1/4 inch thick
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3 tablespoons dry sherry
3/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
1. Make pie dough and form crust. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Adju st oven rack to the low-center position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Put chicken and broth in a small Dutch oven or soup kettle over medium heat. Cover, bring to simmer; simmer until chicken is just done, 8-10 minutes. Transfer meat to large bowl, reserving broth in a liquid measuring cup.
3. Increase heat to medium-high; heat oil in now-empty pan. Add onion, carrots and celery; saute until just tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. While vegetables are sauteing, shred meat into bite-sized pieces. Transfer cooked vegetables to bowl with chicken; set aside.
4. Heat butter over medium heat in again-empty skillet. When foaming subsides, add flour; cook about 1 minute. Whisk in chicken broth, milk, any accumulated chicken juices, and thyme. Bring to simmer, then continue to simmer until sauce fully thickens, about 1 minute.
5. Pour sauce over chicken mixture; stir to combine. Stir in peas. Adjust seasonings. Pour mixture into 10 inch pie crust. Top with a top crust and seal the edges. I found out that dipping my fingers in water to seal the edges worked very well. I also cut some vent holes in the top of my pot pie.
This is a recipe that I found on "The Fresh Loaf" a really great bread blog. I am going to post the link to their recipe because they do a good job of describing how to make it. I love this bread because it is soft but makes great toast and sandwiches. It is whole great without being too heavy.
A fresh slice of the wheat bread.http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/wholewheathoneybread
Enjoy! I love that they mention this is kind of like the bread they used to serve at The Good Earth Restaurant.
Milk Chocolate Brownies:
This is another great recipe I found on Epicurious. I had some large milk chocolate bars leftover from Halloween and this was a great use for them. They sure were popular with my students!
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
- 8 ounces fine-quality milk chocolate, chopped
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Preparation
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
Melt butter and half of chocolate in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is glossy and smooth.
Whisk together remaining ingredients, then stir into chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining chocolate.
Spread batter in pan and bake until a wooden pick or skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs adhering, 25 to 30 minutes.
These are a delicious treat for a weekend breakfast! I made these a couple of weekends ago and they were a hit. I also filled some of them with lingonberry jam!
- 2 Tbsp. butter plus butter to grease aebleskiver pan
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
Place aebleskiver pan over medium-high burner and bring up to heat (to the point where butter sizzles on the surface).
Separate the eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until creamy. Sift together flour and baking powder; gradually stir flour and buttermilk, alternating with each 1/2-cup addition, into egg mixture. Gently fold beaten egg whites into batter.
Reduce heat under aebleskiver pan to medium. Place 1/8 tsp. butter into each well to grease, using a pastry brush to coat surface of wells entirely.
Spoon batter into each well, filling half-way (about 1 tsp.). Then, if desired fill with jam or other filling, then spoon enough additional batter over filling to cover and fill well to the top. Allow to cook until the edges of each “pancake” begin to brown and pull away from the sides of the wells.
Lightly run a knife or (in the traditional fashion) a knitting needle around the edge of each ball to loosen, and then flip over to cook through (about 2 minutes).
Remove the aebleskiver to a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar to serve.
Yield: 28 aebleskiver.
The cast iron aebleskiver pan that I use.
I found the recipe for these online. I changed it a bit but for the most part I kept it the same. I will outline the changes I made below a well a post a link to the original recipe. These were super delicious and made several meals for us!
A slice of the delicious calzone!Here is a link to the recipe. I used fresh mushrooms instead of the canned ones, which I sauteed in a skillet with olive oil along with the onions and peppers before adding them to the rest of the filling ingredients. Also, I used olive oil in the dough. This made the dough turn out really silky and soft! Amazingly good!
Peanut Butter Cookies:
This has become one of my favorite cookies of all time. It is a Cook's Illustrated recipe and I love it. It comes out perfectly every time! I made these for a school meeting as well as for Christmas cookies to share.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar + extra for rolling the dough balls in before baking
1 cup extra crunchy peanut butter, at room temperature (in this version I used creamy because I had it on hand)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup roasted, salted peanut, ground in a food processor or chopped finely
1. Adjust oven rack to upper and lower middle positions and heat oven to 35oF. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. In an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.
4. Working with generous 2 tablespoons each time, roll dough into 2 inch balls. (I like to roll the dough balls into granulated sugar too). Place balls on parchment lined cookie sheets, leaving 2 1/2 inches between each ball.
5. Bake, reversing the position of the cookie sheets halfway through baking time. From top to bottom racks and back to front, until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along the edges, but not on top, 10-12 minutes. Cookies will not look fully baked. Cool cookies to finish baking on the cookie sheets until fully set, about 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack with a spatula to cool completely.
Going to Christmas Tea:
On a past Saturday I had a lovely and special Christmas tea with my dear friend Carol, her mom Carol Jo and my mom Serena. We went to a local tea shop in Hillsboro called Tea's Me. It was a beautiful and delicious tea as you can see below.
Carol, Carol Jo, Serena and Trista at Tea's Me in Hillsboro.
A first coarse of sorbet at Tea's Me.
The delicious artichoke-chicken soup we had with our tea!
The amazing 3 tier tray of tea goodies!
The delicious spreads for the scones: jam, clotted cream and lemon curd.Enjoy your week! Have a great one!! My next post should include more Christmas goodies!
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