Strawberry Spinach Salad with Feta and Bacon

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Are you ready for a little warm weather?

I know I sure am.

Tonight, it is suppose to get below zero here in Mid Missouri. Creamy, steamy soup with hot rolls is perfect for those cold nights, except….when you are craving some summer salads. A new store opened up not far from here and they had these beautiful strawberries on sale. I could not resist buying a few packages. They looked like summer and even smelled like summer. I knew I had some left over spinach from when I made chicken and spinach enchiladas. In my summer starving mind, I thought, what better way to bring in a little summer into my kitchen, then by making some Strawberry Spinach Salad.

I did not have a couple of items for the salad. My Super Hero son volunteered to go to the store to pick them up for me. Only problem was, he did not know what feta cheese looked like and he did not have a clue where to find sesame seeds. After several phone calls and going to a different and bigger store, he was able to buy what I needed. I offered to buy him a mountain dew for his troubles. The Super Hero loves his mountain dew.

All was forgiven.

While I fried up some bacon cheeseburgers, I made this quick and easy recipe for Strawberry Spinach Salad. Oldest daughter who does not cook, myself and even Company enjoyed big bowls of this salad, with our burgers. It was just what the doctor ordered to bring a sunny smile to our faces. The Super Hero did not want to eat spinach salad. I think he was afraid he would turn into Popeye.

If you are missing summer and what to bring a little bite of strawberry sunshine into your kitchen, try this spinach salad. You will not be able to resist the sweet vinegar dressing, loaded with strawberries and bacon and topped with feta cheese and slivered almonds.

Here’s to warm weather : )

This is all you need to make this summer sensational salad (even in the winter.)

The first thing you will want to do, is make the dressing. You will need to measure out the olive oil and the vinegar. Pour the oil and vinegar into a bowl.

Next, you add in the Worcestershire sauce. The you add in the poppy and sesame seeds.

Now, add in the sugar and the chopped onion and whisk everything together.

Pour the dressing into a blender and blend for 30 seconds. (I just used my little shake blender) The dressing will emulsify, turning in a nice, rich dressing. You won’t even see the onion.

In a large bowl, put in your spinach and your sliced strawberries.

Now add your bacon and feta cheese. I saved a little to use as a garnish for later.

Now pour on some dressing. I only used half of my dressing. I thought that was plenty, but to each their own.

Lastly, stir the salad together. Top with remaining bacon and feta and some slivered almonds.

All you need now is a fork and a lock on the kitchen door (if you do not want to share). ; )

The sun will come out tomorrow……. : )

Right?

Enjoy!

Here is the recipe:

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Feta and Bacon

10 cups of fresh spinach

1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced

4 ounces feta cheese

1 cup of bacon bits (I fried bacon and crumbled it ahead of time)

1/2 cup of slivered almonds

Dressing Ingredients:

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

3 tablespoons chopped onion

Directions:

In a medium size bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and chopped onion. Pour the dressing into a blender and blend for 30 seconds.

In a large bowl add the spinach, feta cheese, bacon and almonds. (I saved some bacon, feta and almonds for a garnish).

Pour on the desired amount of dressing. (I used about half of it, saving the rest for another salad)

Toss the salad and dressing together.

Garnish with the remaining bacon, feta and almonds.

Hope this salad chases those winter blahs away!

Becky

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Are you craving comfort food?

I am too.

Winter will do that to you. It is cold outside and the crisp cold air just zaps all the warmth right from you. It seems like nothing will warm you up but some comfort food made fresh from your kitchen.

Casseroles made a great comfort food. They will satisfy that craving, but they also will feed a crowd of people and provided lunch left overs for a couple of days. I count both of those as blessings in my book. I love to cook, but sometimes finding the time to cook every night can pose a challenge for me. So, when I can find a recipe that gets my taste buds going, and can feed everyone for a couple of nights, I can’t wait to try it.

I found this recipe for Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas. It is filled with mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar cheese. I thought that would be a nice and different cheesy change. I also loved the addition of cooked fresh spinach and sauted onions. I only had one problem. Company was coming over for dinner after work and he hates onions and is not too fond of cooked spinach. Boo….So, I committed myself into making these enchiladas, I knew I had to make two pans, one with the spinach and onions and one without. Casseroles are perfect that way. You can change, add or leave out an ingredients and it still works.

Tonight I came home and made casseroles for Company. Kids and Grandgirls. We all sat at the table and ate as a family instead of us all eating in different rooms, on our ipads, computers or watching tv.

It was nice.

Comfort food and casseroles and eating altogether at dinner. It is a perfect combination.

Here is what you will need to create your own perfect combination.

I baked 5 chicken breast for this recipe. You probably only need to use 4, but if you like a lot of chicken (I know I do) you can bake 5 chicken breast to shred for this recipe.

The first thing you will need to do is slice a whole onion. If you would rather dice your onion, that would work too.

Add some olive oil in a large stock pot and sauté the onions on medium heat for around 5 minutes.

Add all the fresh spinach to the sautéed onions.

I put a lid on my stock pot and in no time the spinach wilted and cooked down in volume. Take the spinach and onions out of the stock pot and put in a strainer and with a spatula, press all the excess liquid from the spinach out. This will keep your casserole from being runny.

Now, in a mixing bowl, mix together the cream of chicken soup and one cup of the chicken broth. Wisk together till smooth.

Next, you need to find a large bowl. Pour in your chicken soup mixture in.

Add in the sautéed onions and spinach and the shredded chicken.

Add in 2 cups of the cheese and the seasonings. (season salt, garlic powder and cumin)

Now, add in the green chilis and the lemon (or you can use lime) juice.

It is time to stir everything together and start making enchiladas.

Fill each tortilla with about 2/3 cups of the chicken and spinach filling. You will have left over filling.

In a vegetable sprayed baking dish, place your 8 filled enchiladas.

With your left over filling, add the sour cream and the rest of the of chicken broth.

Stir the left over filling with the sour cream and chicken broth together.

Spread the left over filling over the top of the enchiladas.

Top with the rest of the cheese (2 cups). Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for around 30 minutes. Or until the filling is bubbly and the cheese is melted.

Waaalaaa! That is all there to satisfy that comfort food craving.

Here is the recipe:

Chicken and Spinach Enchiladas

Adapted from Taste of the South

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

1 large onion, sliced

12 ounces of fresh spinach

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 3/4 cup of chicken broth

4 to 5 cooked and shredded chicken breast

2 – 8 ounce packages of mozzarella cheese (divided_

1 (4 ounce) can of green chilies

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon season salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

2 tablespoon lemon juice

8 flour tortillas

8 ounces of sour cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a casserole dish with vegetable spray.

In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions until tender. Add the spinach and cook until it wilts. Remove the onions and spinach and put in a strainer and press out of the excess liquid. Set aside.

Now, In a large bowl, whisk together the cream of chicken soup and 1 cup of the chicken broth. Add in the shredded chicken, spinach mixture, 1 package of cheese, green chilies, garlic powder, cumin, season salt and lemon juice. Stir to combine.

Fill 8 flour tortillas with 2/3 cups of chicken and spinach filling. You will have left over filling. Place the enchiladas in the vegetable sprayed casserole dish.

Add the sour cream, the rest of the can of chicken broth to the remaining filling. Stir to combine. Spread the left over filling over the enchiladas.

Cover the enchiladas with the remaining package of cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes until the mixture is bubbly and the cheese is melted.

This enchilada will make your fork happy.

Enjoy.

Becky

Microwave Eggplosion

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Can you believe the weekend is almost over?

Gee, I can’t. But, we had a beautiful day here in Mid Missouri. The weather was a balmy 50 something degrees outside. I meet Company this morning at church and we had lunch with the Princess (mom) and Dad, Niener Wiener and her hubby and then headed to the outlet mall for some fun after holiday shopping.

I needed a nice day away from home after Oldest Grandgirl’s microwave eggplosion yesterday.

Yes, you read the screen correct…..microwave eggplosion.

I guess, I need to tell you the whole yolk and nothing but the yolk. (this is my attempt at egg humor)

Oldest Grandgirl, loves to cook eggs in the microwave on the weekends. Grandma (me) HATES to scrub her crusty microwave eggs bowls on the weekends. So, I was thinking of ways I could rememdy this. When I was looking around at a kitchen store, I saw this pottery gadget called a Stone Wave.

You know, one of those, “As seen on TV,” gadgets. I was a little skeptical until I watched a little clip about it on Good Morning America. Moms had tried it across the U.S. and each Mom gave it a thumbs up. So, I bought one for Oldest Grandgirl for Christmas.

She loves her Stone Wave. She thinks she is a regular chef now that she, “Owns,” her own cookware. : )

So much so, she has been experimenting cooking eggs in her little gadget, practically every morning since Christmas. Including yesterday morning.

That is when disaster struck.

No one, including me, had told Oldest Grandgirl what happens when you try to boil a whole egg in the microwave. Oldest daughter who does not cook, tried to tell her not to boil eggs in the microwave, but did not explain why.

This is what happens when you try to boil an egg (in it’s shell) in the microwave.

Another reason.

And, another reason.

The door even blew open.

Yikes!

From what I can tell, Oldest Grandgirl had two whole eggs in her little cooker with water in it. While she was microwaving the eggs, the eggs blew up, and the lid to her little cooker broke and blew the door open to the microwave.

She tried finding all the pieces to the lid of her little cooker.

She wanted to glue all the pieces together again, cause she Loves her little stone wave. She looked for all the pieces in the microwave and on the floor. (after she cleaned the microwave and the floor). She found them all but it was too broken to try to fix.

So….

Company and I went back to the kitchen store and bought her a new one.

I think she has learned her lesson about cooking whole eggs in the microwave.

And, in case you are wondering about the microwave.

It is old, but it still works. It probably needs a vacation.

Does this remind you of anything you have done while trying to learn to cook?

It reminded me of an exploding chocolate cake that keep running over the sides of the pan in the oven, way back when I was learning to cook.

I was probably Oldest Grandgirls age.

My Mom the Princess, forgave me too.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Becky

Here is another post you might enjoy reading.

Don’t Cry over Spilt Milk

Schools back in Session

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

My finals are finally all graded and all my first semester grades are in the computer.

YEA!

Like my usual procrastinating self, I waited until the very end to finally get all my grades finished for first semester.

In my meager defense, I was pretty sick for the whole two weeks I was off for holiday break. I am so thankful I am feeling better (not perfect yet) and I am ready for tomorrow.

I thought I would tell you about a little project I am doing with my sewing class. We are re=purposing old sweaters into new mittens. How this works, is that you take old sweaters (preferable wool or wool blends) and cut mittens shapes from them and sew them up into mittens.

I went to the Salvation Army Store and purchased a few sweaters for $3.00 each. I tried to match colors and ones that could be sewn together. From the sweaters, I cut out the mittens and sew them up. The mittens are sweaters on the outside and lined with fleece on the inside. I showed them to a few teachers and sold them for $10.00 a pair. I am saving the money to donate to a good cause. I have also challenged my students to make an extra pair to donate. I told them for every pair they make, I will make a pair. Our goal is to sew 50 pairs of mittens by the end of January.

What do you think? Do you think we can do it?

The teachers at my school are donating sweaters for this project. Plus, I have a waiting list of teachers who want to buy some more.

I work with amazing teachers!

Anywho, I am back to work tomorrow, after having two snow days off from school. I am ready to get back in a routine. (though sleeping till 8 in the morning has been pretty nice the last few days)

I will keep you updated on my mitten progress.

Becky

Grading Finals and Eating Soup

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Some things never change.

My grades are due by Wednesday morning, and I have waited till the last minute (again) to grade them. My bad. I could add, “grade finals early,”to my New Years Resolutions, but I have a feeling it would not help. Not one little bit.

I think, I will only wait until I absolutely have to, have my finals graded.

Oh well.

Anywho, to help me along with grading my finals. I am eating some creamy baked potato soup that I made yesterday.

Food always cheers me up.

Oldest Daughter who does not cook, was hinting at wanting some potato soup last week. With the recent, artic air, 5 inches of snow on the ground and not to mention school being cancelled today, what better way to cheer anyone up than with a bowl of creamy baked potato soup. Of course a day on a warm beach in Florida would also do the trick. : )

If you are in the mood for some soup, why not make it potato soup.

Here is what you need to make Creamy Baked Potato Soup:

You will need some potatoes (of course), carrots, celery, onion, half and half, chicken broth, butter and flour. (I forgot to put the butter and flour in the picture) You can garnish your soup with bacon bits and cheese. I seasoned the soup with salt and pepper. If you want to cut down on the calories just use fat free half and half or regular milk.

The first thing I did was wash off 8 large potatoes and wrap them in foil. Put them in a 400 degree oven and bake until they are tender.

While the potatoes are baking, I chopped up half of a large onion.

I also chopped 3 celery stalks.

I had to use little carrots, because that was all I had. But if you are using large carrots, dice up 2 large carrots.

Put the diced, onion, carrots and celery into a large stock pot.

Add four tablespoons of butter to the diced vegetables. Turn the heat on medium.

Saute the vegetables until the are translucent and tender. Be sure and stir the vegetables while you are doing this.

Now, you are going to make a slurry of half and half and flour.

Take 2 cups of half and half and add in 12 tablespoons of flour.

Stir the half and half and flour together completely, making sure to get all the lumps of flour stirred in.

Add the half an half and flour slurry to the sauted vegetables.

Simmer the mixture until it thickens

Pour in three cans of chicken broth.

While the soup is simmering on low (make sure and keep checking it or take it off the heat), check and see if the potatoes are baked until tender. If they are, take off the foil and cool slightly and peel off the peelings. The peelings should peel off real easily.

With a knife, dice the potatoes up. You should have a medium size bowl full of baked, diced potatoes.

Add the diced potatoes to the soup and stir. Bring to a simmer on low heat. Stirring constantly so your soup will not stick to the bottom. The potatoes have a habit of sinking right to the bottom of the pan and staying there where they could burn.

Your soup will be very thick and you will want to add the rest of the quart of half and half (2 cups). Keep stirring so the potatoes will not stick on the bottom of the pan. (how would I know this ?)

Now, take the time to taste your soup and add in pepper and enough salt to your liking.

If you like chunky soup, stop here. I like mine kinda chunky and kinda smooth. So I take out my handy dandy immersion blender and blend some of the chucks of potatoes. I am careful not to blend up all of the potatoes. This just gives the soup a smoother, thicker texture. If you do not have an immersion blender, just take 3 cups of soup out and blend it smooth in a blender. Then add the blended soup back in.

To make the bacon bits, I took my kitchen shears and cut the bacon into chucks.

Then, I fried the little pieces of bacon until they were crisp.

Now, it is time to scoop some steamy, creamy soup in a bowl and garnish with bacon pieces and cheese. Can you see the chunks of potatoes I left in the soup?

This picture makes me want another bowl.

I hope everyone is staying warm inside and eating soup…really good soup!

Becky

Here is the recipe.

Creamy Baked Potato Soup

Ingredients:

8 large potatoes, (you will bake them and then cube them up)

1 quart of half and half

3 cans of chicken stock

one half of a large onion (diced)

3 celery stalks (diced)

2 large carrots (diced)

12 tablespoons of flour

salt and pepper to taste

Garnish

1 pound of bacon (cut into small pieces and fried till crispy)

1 cup of shredded cheese. I used cheddar jack

Directions:

Wash, then foil 8 large baking potatoes. Bake in a 400 degree oven until tender. When the potaotes are done, peel the potatoes and cube/dice. (depending on how big you like your potato pieces to be). Dice the onion, carrots and celery. Sauté the diced vegetables in a large stock pot with 4 tablespoons of butter. Sauté until tender. Make a slurry using 2 cups of the half and half and the flour (12 tablespoons.) Make sure to stir all the flour lumps out of the slurry. Add the slurry to the vegetables and cook until it thickens. This will help get rid of the raw taste of the flour. Now add in the three cans of chicken stock and stir. Simmer on low, stirring often, until all the vegetables are very tender. Now, add in the diced potatoes. Stir the soup and the potatoes together. Add in the rest of the half and half (2 cups). Simmer on low, stirring often as the potatoes sink and can burn. I use an immersion blender and blend the soup for a couple of minutes. This makes a real creamy consistency. I do not blend out all of the potatoes just some of them. You can use a blender too. Just blend about 3 cups of the soup until smooth and add it back to the soup. The soup is ready when it comes to a simmer and all the potatoes are tender.

Fry the bacon to make bacon bits.

Garnish the soup with bacon bits and cheese.

This is all there is to making creamy baked potato soup.

Easy Peasy Nice and Easy and so good.

Becky

Here are some other soup post you might enjoy:

Chicken Gnocchi Soup Cheese Soup Taco Soup

Homemade Sausage Gravy

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Brrr it is cold outside. Mid Missouri woke up to snow on the ground and snow blowing off the roof tops. Fortunately, we went to the store yesterday to stock up on essentials. So, we are all snug as a bug, with plenty of food in the cabinets to feed us well, until this artic air moves away from us in a few days.

In the meantime, I am cooking.

Oldest daughter who does not cook, has been hinting at craving homemade sausage gravy all week, along with potato soup. The nerve of her ; ). She even went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients I needed to make them.

She is pushy too, isn’t she? ; )

Really, I don’t mind. What better way to spend a cold, wintery day, than making warm yummy goodness in the kitchen? (besides watching classic movies all day with a cup of hot tea.) So, when I went to bed last night, I knew that I would be getting up and making gravy for all the young’uns here at the house. Oldest grandgirl, texted me this morning to see if I was awake. Then she came up to see if I was out of bed yet.

She is as pushy as her mom…: ).

I threw on some clothes and went to work in the kitchen. It no time at all the gravy was ready.

When oldest grandgirl tasted a little bit, she asked me if this was homemade gravy and I said, “yep.” She told me she could tell the difference. The kiddos were swimming in happy gravy bliss this morning, eating gravy.

They are a little gravy crazy.

Me and my son the Super Hero, just ate biscuits with sausage and jelly. We are not big gravy eaters. I really do enjoy making gravy, and I do taste it to get it just the way I think it should taste. But, you won’t see me with gravy on a biscuit too often. I think it is because I love jelly (I was using my homemade strawberry rhubarb jelly) on my biscuits better.

Anywho, I thought I would post my recipe for sausage gravy. I have been making this gravy for years, just like this. I make it when we camp out and go on vacation too. I really do not measure anything, and just kind of throw it together. This morning I took the time to measure and write all the ingredients down just for you. Now, if you wake up to a blustery morning with snow and wind, you can warm your family up with homemade sausage gravy. I cheated this morning and used canned biscuits. I know, I know, I wish I could have made some homemade biscuits. But, when you have to clean the kitchen, before, you cook, I did not have time to make everything from scratch. It did not stop anyone from eating and enjoying breakfast.

I hope you enjoy this recipe too.

Here is what you need to make my Homemade Sausage Gravy.

I guess I need to talk about my choice of sausage. I like a sausage that does not have a bunch of fat it in. So, I generally choose sausage patties cause I can see what the sausage looks like. I know that you are suppose to have sausage grease to add the flour too, but I use butter instead for my fat.

The first thing I do is fry up the sausage. I know it seems strange to break apart the sausage patties, but this way you do not have a bunch of gristley fat in your gravy. Yuck.

When you fry the sausage up, break the patties into small bite size pieces. Fry until all the pink is gone. You will not have much or any fat from your sausage. Now, I add 4 tablespoons of butter to replace the fat.

Stir the butter with the sausage until the butter melts. Next, add in four tablespoons of flour.

Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. This gets the flour taste all cooked out. Now, add in the can of evaporated milk.

Stir and cook the gravy until it becomes thick. The gravy needs to boil to get to its full thickness.

Now it is time to add some milk. Depending on thick you like your gravy, that is how much milk you add to it. I added an additional 3/4 of a cup of milk. Then I cooked the gravy for a little longer and tasted it. Lastly, you salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes the sausage can be salty, so be careful how much salt you add.

Walla……That is all there is to making homemade gravy.

Pour some hot gravy over some biscuits and dig in!

Here is your recipe.

Homemade Sausage Gravy

Ingredients:

8 ounces lean sausage

1 – 12 ounce can evaporated milk

4 tablespoons butter or margarine (I used butter)

4 tablespoons flour

3/4 cup milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown the sausage and break into small pieces. Brown until all the pink is gone. Add in butter and stir until the butter is melted. Add in the flour. Stir the butter and sausage with the flour to coat all the pieces. Cook the flour with the sausage and butter for one minute to remove the raw flour taste. Slowly pour in the can of evaporated milk. Stir continuous until the gravy comes to a boil. It will be thick. Add enough milk to thin to your desired thickness of gravy. (I used 3/4 cup of milk). Continue cooking and stirring until the gravy comes to a boil. The gravy will not reach its full thickness until it comes to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

All I was left with this morning was a empty pot of gravy.

Stay warm today.

Becky

Getting ready for the storm!

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Winter has struck Mid Missouri.

Everyone was out yesterday stocking up on essentials. Oldest daughter who does not cook, made a grocery run too. I went to the store two times.

I went to the store the first time after dinner with Company. I wanted to make a roast in the crock pot while the wind blew on Monday (prediciting to be -30 below wind chill). I did not like the look of the roasts at the first store. I went a head and bought some sale items I thought I would need and decided when I drove home from the country I would stop at my local Hyvee.

I love Hyvee.

It looks like everyone else in town loved Hyvee.

This is what the shelf after shelf looked like at Hyvee.

Empty!

Good thing I bought my cheese at the other store.

I was able to get my roast and some hamburger. I bought bacon too. (you can never have too much bacon on hand).

Anywho, I think I am ready for the storm and the wicked wind and cold air coming our way.

Except, for bananas. Hyvee was out of bananas.

Go figure!

Stay inside, stay warm, watch really good movies and eat really good food!

Becky

Creamy Pralines

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

As I look back on the candies I made or tried to make (divinity) it seems I wanted to make candies that I loved to eat growing up. I learned how to make pralines in college in one of my foods classes. That is where I learned how to use a thing called a candy thermometer and how to put your hot sugar syrup in water to see if it was a hard crack, soft ball….you know what I am talking about. A few years ago I went on vacation to Savannah with PIC (sister in law) and my niece Sparkle (my nick name for her). I loved walking down by the riverfront, watching the candy masters make batch after batch of fresh, warm, melt in your mouth pralines.

I don’t know if you call them praw-leens or pralines…just give me some.

I found this old recipe for creamy pralines. I don’t know if I if they are quite as good as the candy masters in Savannah, but they are pretty close. On these cold winter days here in Mid Missouri, a little taste of the South sounds pretty darn good. Do not be intimidated to make pralines. The trick is to stir the candy while it is cooling off until it starts turning a little dull and then you quickly scoop them out in little puddles on parchment paper. Wait till they set up (if you can) and then make some hot tea and indulge with one or two or more pralines.

Sounds good to me : )

Hope it does to you too.

Anywho, here is what you need to make these creamy pralines.

This recipe has sweetened condensed milk in it instead of half and half or regular milk.

The first thing I did was cut up my butter into little cubes, so it will melt faster and easier.

I set up the pan with the candy thermometer next. The thermometer snaps on the back top of the pan.

Pour in the sweetened condensed milk and firmly packed brown sugar into the in the heavy saucepan.

Add in the granulated sugar and toss in the cubed butter.

Pour in the corn syrup and add the salt.

Stir gently and heat on low until the butter melts. Turn the heat up to medium and stir continuously until the candy reaches a soft ball stage or 238 degrees.

Heat up the mixture until it reaches 238 degrees on a candy thermometer. It will start to thicken up and boil.

When the mixture reaches 238 degrees, remove from the heat. Add the pecans, vanilla and almond flavoring.

Stir in the pecans and flavorings. Beat the mixture with a spoon until it starts to thicken.

Have an area prepared to drop the candy on. I used silicone sheets, but you can use parchment paper also.

Working quickly, drop by rounded tablespoon onto a prepared surface. Let stand until firm.

Don’t you just want to grab one and eat it? I do.

Here is the recipe.

Creamy Pralines

Recipe Adapted from Old Southern Living Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 – 14 ounce can of sweetened condense milk

3/4 cup butter or margarine cut up into cubes

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 cups of pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Directions:

In a heavy saucepan, on low heat, stir together the sugar, brown sugar, butter, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. After the butter has melted, turn the heat to medium. Stirring continuously, heat the mixture to soft ball stage or 238 degrees. Take the mixture off the heat and add the pecans and flavoring. Beat the mixture together with a spoon. Continue beating until the mixture cools slightly and starts to thicken. Work quickly (before the candy sets ups) and with a tablespoon, spoon out spoonfuls onto parchment paper. Let sit until the candy cools and becomes firm.

Makes approximately 3 dozen pralines.

If you can’t make it to Savannah anytime soon, and you are craving some pralines, give this recipe a try.

I know you can make them.

Enjoy,

Becky

Layered Mint Brownies

Posted on January 2, 2014 by Rebecca Baugh

Last semester at school, my students presented a “cooking show” for their final exam. They had to show measuring and safety tips a long with showing the class the proper way to mix and prepare a recipe. One on my students prepared these layered mint brownies. It was a recipe she had gotten from her grandmother. Her grandmother prepared them every holiday for the family. The brownies were so pretty with the green mint icing and tasted just like an andies mint. I was in love. I made these for our little New Year’s Eve party and my kiddos, Company and Jeanie Beanie thought they were mmm mmm good. I am so grateful that my student shared her recipe with me.

Now, I am sharing it with you.

If you still have a holiday party to attend and need to bring a dessert, these brownies travel well and stay moist for several days. Be sure to bring the recipe, because your friends will want you to share it too. ; )

Here is what you will need to make a full, 9 by 13 pan, of brownies.

I used special dark chocolate chips for the icing, but semi sweet chips would work too.

In a large mixing bowl, put the room temperature butter and four eggs in.

In the bowl with the eggs and the butter, add in one can of chocolate syrup. Next add the flour.

Now, add the salt and the sugar.

Lastly, add in the vanilla. (can see that I spilled it?). Now with a mixer mix all seven ingredients together.

Be sure and the mix the brownie together for at least five minutes. The batter will fluff up and look rich and thick. Also, do not be alarmed because there is not baking powder or soda in this recipe.

Spread the brownie batter evenly in a greased 9 by 13 pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Here is what mine looked like when they came out of the oven.

While the brownies cook completely, you can make the mint flavored icing. In a large mixing bowl put in room temperature butter and the powdered sugar.

Now, add in one tablespoon water and one teaspoon mint flavoring.

To give the icing a pretty green color, add in 3 drops of green food coloring. With a mixer, blend the ingredients together until the icing is smooth and fluffy.

Spread the mint icing evenly over the completely cooled brownie.

Now it is time to make the chocolate topping. In a microwaveable bowl, put in the butter and chocolate chips.

Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time and stir. When the butter completely melts and the chips are soft, stir the butter and chips together until the topping is smooth and all the chips are melted.

Let the chocolate topping cool for 3o minutes. It will thicken slightly. Spread the chocolate topping over the mint icing. Chill the brownies until the topping sets up.

These brownies slice up so pretty.

They look so attractive stacked up together. The brownies are dense and rich. It will be hard not to nibble on them until they are all gone.

Here is the recipe:

Layered Mint Brownies

Recipe Adapted from Student’s Grandma

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened

4 eggs

1 – 16 ounce of chocolate syrup

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Mint Icing

1/2 cup butter softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon mint flavoring

3 drops of green food coloring

For the chocolate topping

1 – 12 ounce package of dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Preheat your oven till 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 by 13 pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, eggs, flour, sugar, chocolate syrup, vanilla and salt. Mix all the ingredients with a mixer for five minutes. The batter will be thick and fluffy. Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9 by 13 pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center comes out clean with a tooth pick. Take out of oven and cool completely.

To make the icing, combine the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, water, mint flavoring and green food coloring. With a mixer, mix the ingredients together until the icing if smooth and fluffy. When the brownies are completely cooled, spread the icing on the brownies.

To make the chocolate topping. In a microwaveable bowl, melt the butter and the chocolate chips together in the microwave. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time and stir. Repeat until the butter and chocolate chips are melted. Let the topping cool for 30 minutes to thicken. Pour the topping over the icing and smooth evenly. Chill until the topping hardens. Cut into small squares.

Happy Holiday!

Becky

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Rebecca Baugh

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I am finally in the upright position after having the flu for four days. I was pretty much in bed or pretending to feel well, walking and looking like a zombie, while baby college girl was home for Christmas. I think that Santa must have decided to give me the flu for Christmas instead of coal. Jeepers….I must have been a bad girl this last year ; )

Anywho, while I am still feeling good enough, I am going to finally post my overnight cinnamon roll recipe. I don’t know if you remember me talking about making over a hundred cinnamon rolls for the staff at my high school in December, but I had so many staff members wanting the recipe I thought I better get it posted in time for the new year. What better way to start 2014 than eating hot cinnamon rolls for breakfast, right? One of the best things about this recipe (besides the gooey icing) is that you can make them the day before, put them in the fridge overnight and bake them in the morning. I am using Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Roll recipe, with some changes and with a different, delicious cream cheese icing. From the viewers who made his recipe, some had a hard time getting the dough to rise. I have included the little tricks that I used and it worked for all 130 something cinnamon rolls. So come on, give them a try…who can resist warm cinnamon rolls.

Here is what you need to make these cinnamon rolls.

Make sure that your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help in the dough rising.

The first thing you need to do is put four egg yolks and one egg in a large mixing bowl. Next, add the sugar and combine.

Next add the buttermilk. I warmed my buttermilk in the microwave for 3o seconds before I slowly poured it into the egg mixture. After, I mixed in the warm milk, I added the warm melted butter and combined everything together with the mixer.

Now, add in two cups of flour, salt and the yeast. Use the paddle attachment to mix the dough until the flour and yeast is all mixed together. Now, take the paddle attachment off and put on the dough hook.

Add in enough flour to form a nice soft, slightly sticky dough. The amount of the flour depends a lot on how fresh the flour is. I just add about 1/2 cup of flour at time and when the dough starts pulling together with the dough hook, I just start tapping flour in a little at time until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. You do not want to add too much flour because it can make your dough dry. When you dough is ready, use vegetable spray and spray a large bowl. Put the dough in the bowl to rise. I also spray the top of the dough so it does not dry out. I cover the bowl with a cloth and put the bowl in a warm place to rise.

Here is a picture of all the bowls of dough I had sitting on the oven doors to rise for the ones I made at school. I warmed the ovens up and then turned the ovens off. I sat the bowls on the oven doors with a cloth over them to rise. I felt like the dough needed the extra warmth to rise.

When the dough doubles in size (mine took about two hours), punch the dough down and get ready to roll the dough out.

Lightly flour your counter top. Set the dough on top of the flour.

Roll the dough into a large rectangle about a 18 inch by 12 inch. Spread melted butter on top of the dough.

Measure out the brown sugar and the cinnamon and mix together.

Spread the cinnamon brown sugar on top of the buttered dough. Starting with the long side of the dough, roll the dough up. Cut the dough into approximately 10 rolls.

Set the rolls on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. When you are ready to bake, warm your oven to 200 degrees. Place the pan of rolls in the oven (take the plastic wrap off). Make sure to leave the door of the oven ajar. Let the rolls rise for about 20 minutes. Take the rolls out of the oven and heat the oven up to 350. When the oven is preheated place the rolls back into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the inside of the roll is cooked through.

The rolls will pop up in the middle and brown sugar will start oozing out.

While the rolls are still warm, spread with the icing.

If you want, after you ice the warm cinnamon rolls you can top them with sugared pecans.

Here is how to make my favorite icing for the cinnamon rolls.

In a bowl add the soften butter and cream cheese.

With a mixer, mix in the powdered sugar, warm water, vanilla and salt. You will end up with a bowl full of creamy icing.

Here is the recipe:

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

4 large egg yolks: room temperature

1 large egg: room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup of buttermilk, warmed slightly in the microwave

Approximately 4 cups of flour: you may not use the total amount

1 package of instant dry yeast or 2 1/4 teaspoons

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Vegetable spray

Filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Melted butter: enough to brush on the dough approximately 2 tablespoons

Icing:

4 tablespoon butter, softened

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons warm water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the egg yolks, egg, sugar, butter and buttermilk. Add 2 cups of flour along with the yeast and salt. Combined until all the flour is incorporated. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Add 1 cup of flour and knead for 5 minutes. Add more flour until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. The dough should be soft and moist. Spray a large bowl with vegetable oil. Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and transfer to the large bowl. Lightly spray the top of the dough with the oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place (I used a warm oven door) until the dough doubles in size. It took mine about 2 hours.

Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle about a 18 by 12 inch rectangle. Brush the dough with melted butter. Sprinkle the dough with brown sugar and cinnamon. Leaving a edge on one side to use later to seal the rolled dough together. Press the brown sugar on to the dough. Beginning with the long edge, roll the dough up. Seal the edge together. With a serrated knife, slice the dough into 10 to 12 cinnamon rolls. Arrange on a cooking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove the rolls from the fridge and place in a warm 200 degree oven. Be sure and take off the plastic wrap. Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar. Let the rolls rise and proof for 20 minutes or until the rolls look slightly puffy. Take the rolls out of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

When the oven is preheated, place the rolls in the preheated oven and bake until the rolls are golden brown. While the rolls are baking, make the icing. When the rolls come out of the oven, let them cool slightly. After the rolls have cooled, ice with the icing and serve.

Before, I finish this post, I wanted to thank all the teachers who came to my rescue the morning I was making all those cinnamon rolls.

Does it look like we are having fun!!!

Don’t worry, you don’t have to make this many….not unless you have a really big family.

Enjoy!

Becky

A Small Town Kitchen

Welcome to my kitchen and make yourself at home! | Recipes | Couponing | FACS | Crafts

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Overnight Cinnamon Rolls