Lemon Curd

Lemon curd is one of my favorite things to make with the lemons from our tree.  I have searched high and low for the best recipe and this is one I made up from a combination of recipes I tried.  

3 lemons
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 stick butter
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Zest the lemons and mix with the sugar in a large bowl.  Cream the butter and beat in the sugar and lemon mixture. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened (about 15 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

Our lemon tree produced a ton of lemons this year, so I've been trying to use them in all kids of ways.  One of our favorites is fresh squeezed lemonade.  It just takes about five minutes to make and is super delish. 

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

3 cups cold water
3/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (about four lemons)
1/2 cup sugar (start with a bit less and add more if you need)

Stir ingredients and enjoy!

Mushroom & Onion Turkey Melt

I don't know about you, but I get tired of eating the same old thing for lunch. I usually am too lazy to make anything that takes more than five minutes for lunch. We had deli turkey in the fridge today but I didn't feel like my usual cold turkey sandwich, so I thought of what else I could make with it. I then remembered back to my days living at home and the turkey melts my dad would make for dinner quite often. They are tasty and healthy!

Ingredients:
1/2 onion
10 mushrooms
Six slices of turkey
2 sandwich thins
Sliced mozzarella or provolone cheese
Dijon mustard
Extra Virgin Olive oil

Directions: Slice onions and mushrooms and saute in pan with olive oil.

In seperate frying pan, warm turkey. Place sliced cheese on top of turkey to melt.

Toast sandwich thins. Place turkey with melted cheese, onions and mushrooms, and dijon mustard on the buns and enjoy!

Braided Sweet Bread

Last year, I posted the recipe for braided sweet bread but the bread was eaten so quickly I never took a picture of it after it was baked and frosted. This would be a great sweet bread to serve Christmas morning. My mom made it throughout the year, but at Christmastime she shaped the bread into a candy cane shape.

Click here for the recipe.

Polish Tea Cake Cookies (aka Thumbprint cookies)

This is my favorite holiday treat. My grandma always made these every Christmas and my mom always did, too. They are especially tasty if you fill them with homemade jam.

Ingredients:
-1 cup butter, softened
-1 cup sugar
-2 egg yolks
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 egg whites
-2 cups chopped pecans
-About 1/2 cup raspberry or strawberry jam or preserves

Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Then add the flour and salt to the mixture. Roll dough into cookie balls and roll in egg whites and then in chopped pecans.

Place on cookie sheet and press middle of cookie with a thimble or wooden end of spoon. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes and then press middle of cookie down again and bake 5-7 more minutes.

Don't overcook. When cookies are cool place jam in the middle of cookie. Makes 3 dozen.

This is me six years ago showing off my first attempt at making Christmas goodies, including making Polish Teacakes for the first time by myself.

Fall Recipe Roundup

Fall is here and so are all the yummy pumpkin and apple goodies. Below are some of my past fall recipes and a goodie bag to deliver them in to your friends.

Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Cake Roll

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (my favorite)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mini Chocolate and Caramel Apples

Apple and Pumpkin Gift Bags

30 meals in one day

I enjoy cooking (mostly because I love to eat) but I get tired of making dinner every night. I've been wanting to do a big freezer meal day once a month and make a bunch of dinners. I am hoping to get a deep freeze this week so I'll have the space to do this. I just saw a post on the "Things I Love!" blog about a book/cd called 30 Meals in One Day. It has the directions and recipes for great recipes you can do in one day. Go check it out.

Zucchini Brownies

A friend recently gave me some zucchini, so I decided to make zucchini brownies. My mom would makes these every summer when we had more zucchini in our garden than we knew what to do with. You do have to have a bit a of paradigm shift before you eat these brownies. They aren't super sweet and rich like my other brownie recipe. These are extremely moist but just a little sweet. They only have a 1/2 cup sugar compared to my other recipe that has six cups between the brownie and frosting. So if you are watching what you are eating like I am, this is a good way to get a little bit of sweetness without all the sugar.

Zucchini Brownies

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Mix first five ingredients together and then add the flour, salt, and soda. Finally, add the zucchini and nuts and chocolate chips (if using). Pour into a greased 8"x8" pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Fire Truck Cake

We just celebrated my son's birthday and he wanted a truck cake, so I decided to go with a fire truck because I found this really easy video tutorial on how to make one. It was easy, the only thing I would do different is use my homemade butter cream frosting. I have never used the store bought frosting in the can and it was really runny. The fire truck ended up looking like it had melted in a fire, so I am embarrassed to post a picture of mine. However, my son loved it and that's what counts. Right?

Fire Truck Cake Instructions
For video demo click here.

Supplies:
Cake mix
Cake board
Frosting (see recipe below)
Frosting bag (or a ziplock bag cut in one corner will work)
4-6 Oreo cookies (depending on how many wheels you want your truck to have, I did 6 since I couldn't find a licorice wheel for the hose)
8 red gumdrops
4 yellow gumdrops
Red and gray food coloring gel

Make a cake mix and bake in three 8"x4" bread loaf pans. Divide batter equally. Bake for time according to package instructions. Remove from oven and let cool for ten minutes and then remove cake from pan. When cool, trim top of cakes to make flat. Place one cake on a cake board or cardboard covered in wrapping paper/foil. Cut off 1/8th of the second cake and place on top of the first cake on the cake board. Cut the third cake in half and stand both halves vertically in front of the other two cakes to create the cab of the fire truck. Make frosting, use the recipe below (don't use the Betty Crocker store bought kind, it is too runny to work with and you'll end up with a mess).

Butter cream frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

Color two cups of frosting red using red food gel coloring (you'll need two tubes to get it really red). Leave some of the frosting white for the windows and color the rest gray using gel food coloring for the piping around the bottom of the fire truck. Frost the fire truck red. Then add oreo cookie wheels. Then pipe with gray piping around the bottom. Make window and ladder on truck using white icing. Add gumdrop lights.

An easy and fun cake, your fire engine loving child will love!

Photo credit

Summer Recipe Roundup

Below are some of my recipes from the past that are perfect to make in the summertime. Enjoy!

Bowtie Chicken Pasta Salad

Greek Salad and Souvlaki

Feta Pita Chips

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

Tarragon Chicken Pitas

Pineapple and Chicken Kabobs

Chicken tacos with mango salsa

Fresh Salsa

Tasty Desserts

Banana Cream (or chocolate) Pie

Homemade Granola

Brownies (super easy and great for BBQs and picnics)

Strawberry Freezer Jam using Aguave

Last year I posted a simple freezer jam recipe using Ball's Simple Creation No-cook Freezer Jam Pectin. Since strawberries are now in season and we recently ran out of jam, I decided it was time to make more. I have heard of people using agave so I recently bought some and decided to try it with my jam. Agave is sweeter than granulated sugar, so you use less of it when making the jam.

Here is the recipe:

4 cups crushed strawberries
1 package Ball's Simple Creation No-cook Freezer Jam Pectin (update: pectin repackaging now looks like this.)
3/4 cups agave


Mix the agave and pectin in a large bowl. Wash your strawberries (I like to spray with this fruit/veggie cleaner first), remove stems, and cut in half and place in food processor or blender.

Place the four cups of crushed berries into the large bowl with pectin and agave. Mix for 3 minutes and then pour into jam containers. Let jam thicken for 30 minutes before placing in the freezer.

That's it. No cooking required. You just simply mix. I love this pectin!

This is a very healthful jam and I really can't taste a difference between using agave and sugar.

Here is a break down of the cost of this jam. I got 5 jars of jam.

Strawberries - $2
Agave - 2.25 (estimated by how much I used of the bottle)
Pectin - 1.42

Total - $5.67
Total per jar - $1.14

You definitely can't buy a jar of jam for that much at the store, especially one that contains agave! This only took me a 1/2 hour start to finish and is something anyone can do. Enjoy!

Easter breakfast idea: Monkey Bread

I enjoy having a big breakfast on Easter. This year I am going to make Monkey Bread. It is something you can make before going to bread and let rise and then bake first thing in the morning. My mom would usually make this every summer when we were at my grandparent's cabin. I remember always looking forward to it. The Rhodes Rolls website has a two minute movie tutorial you can watch. They call the recipe Butterscoth Bubbleloaf.


Monkey Bread (aka Butterscoth Bubbleloaf, from Rhodes website)

24 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed but still cold
1/2 box butterscotch or vanilla pudding mix, non-instant
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Cut dinner rolls in half and dip in dry pudding mix. Arrange rolls in sprayed bundt pan, alternately with pecans. Sprinkle any remaining pudding mix over the top. Combine brown sugar and butter. Heat together until butter is melted and a syrup is formed (microwave about 1 1/2 minutes). Pour syrup over rolls. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap. Let rise until double in size or even with top of bundt pan. Carefully remove wrap. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Cover with foil the last 15 minutes of baking. Immediately after baking, loosen from sides of the pan with a knife and invert onto a serving plate.

You can just eat this or you can serve with eggs and bacon or your other favorite breakfast dishes. It is delicious!

No Bake Cookies

As usual, I was craving something sweet but I didn't have any eggs in the house. I decided to make no-bake cookies. This is just a recipe combination I have made up to fit my tastes preferences. It is one of those recipes you can adapt to what you have on hand.

No Bake Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (can substitute cocoa)
1/2 cup peanut butter (I like using all natural since it doesn't have any added sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats (quick or regular)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional, can add more than 1/2 cup if desired)

Combine butter, milk, and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and quickly whisk in chocolate chips and peanut butter. Add vanilla. Then mix in oats, coconut, and nuts. Place drops of mixture on piece of wax paper to set. Makes 20 cookies.

Carrot Cake

My husband loves carrot cake, so that is what I made him for his birthday cake this year. It works out that Easter is also coming up, since this is also a great Easter dessert.

Carrot Cake

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

3 eggs

1/3 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups carrots, peels and grated

1 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (can put some inside the cake but I put on the outside)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Mix sugar and oil. Then add eggs, applesauce, and vanilla and mix until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix together. Then add carrots, nuts, raisins. Mix. Pour mixture into two greased 9-inch pans or a 9x13 pan. I sprayed my pan and then put wax paper in the bottom. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Allow to cool 1o minutes before removing from pans. Cool and then frost with Cream Cheese Icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

16 ounces cream cheese (2 packages), softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

5 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Orange and green gel food coloring

Beat cream cheese until softened. Then add butter. Add half the powdered sugar and mix. Add the other half along with vanilla and mix until smooth. Don't overmix. Set aside 3/4 cup of the frosting if you would like to color frosting for carrot decorations on top of cake. Frost cake. Place chopped nuts along the outside of the cake. Mix 1/2 cup and orange gel food coloring in a small bowl. Mix other 1/4 cup frosting in another bowl with green food coloring. Put coloring in bag and frost little carrots on top of the cake.

Quick and easy frosted brownies

Whenever I need to make a quick dessert, these brownies are my standby. They are delicious and are ready to eat in under 30 minutes!

I am terrible about getting nice pictures of the food I make because I am always so excited to eat it that I forget to get some pictures before digging in. That was the case with these brownies. Sorry.

Quick & easy frosted brownies

Brownie Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa (I use just a bit less than that)

Grease a cookie sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix wet ingredients together first and then add dry ingredients. Pour batter onto cookie sheet. Note: Yes, these are very thin brownies. Bake for 17 minutes.

Fast Melting Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 heaping tbl cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
water

Melt the stick of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa and vanilla. Take off burner and add powdered sugar. Whisk in. The frosting will be hard to stir at this point so add a bit of water (about 1/4 cup). Mix together. I turn the burner back on for about 10 seconds to help dissolve the water and powdered sugar. Immediately pour the frosting over the slightly cooled brownies and quickly frost before frosting dries.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or scoop of ice cream.

"Ice cream" from frozen bananas

Photo from Our Best Bites

I have several ripe bananas I need to use and I saw this post today on making ice cream from frozen bananas. Basically you chop the banana up into chunks and freeze. Then you blend them in your food processor while still frozen. Next, stir and serve your banana "ice cream." This is what I am making for our family night treat tonight.

Braided Sweet Bread

I finally am posting a recipe! It has been way too long. I am finally starting to like food again...I've had some major food aversions this pregnancy. This recipe is one of my favorites from my mom. This is a recipe you can make all year round, but it is a perfect holiday treat. I like making the bread in the shape of a candy cane for Christmas. This is a great treat to take to the neighbors. The recipe makes three large loaves or you can make small ones, too.

Braided Sweet Bread
Makes three loaves

1/2 cup warm water
2 tbl yeast
2 cups milk, scalded
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tsp salt
8 cups flour
3 cans fruit filling

Butter cream frosting

4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 tsp vanilla

Dissolve yeast in warm water in bowl. Make sure the water isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. The water should be the temperature you would give to a baby in a bottle. Let yeast sit for ten minutes. It should bubble if the yeast is good.

Meanwhile, put the milk in a saucepan on low heat and stir occasionally. When it starts to bubble (not boil but just tiny foam bubbles) on the edges it is done. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Place softened butter, sugar, eggs, and salt in a large bowl and mix. Then add the scalded milk. Add mixture (make sure it is just lukewarm and not too hot) to the yeast and water bowl. Mix. Then begin adding the flour a couple cups at a time. Cover and let sit for ten minutes. Then knead the dough for 7-10 minutes. I use my Kitchen Aid to do all my kneading. Of course you can do it by hand on a floured surface.

Cover dough with towel and let rise until it double or triples in size. It takes about 1 1/2-2 hours. Divide dough into three portions. Flour a surface a roll out the dough until about 1/4" thick, I guess. I forgot to measure, but look at my picture below to get an idea.


Fill the center of the bread with blueberry, lemon, raspberry, etc. pie filling.


Then cut an even number of strips on each side of the bread (see picture). Then take one piece and cross over filling and press down to get it to stay and continue with this "braiding" of the bread.

Place on cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Make your butter cream frosting while the bread is baking and frost when still warm (but not too hot). These are best when warmed up and eaten! Divine.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 bag chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg, pumpkin, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Add the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 11-13 minutes.

Tomato Basil Bisque

One of the reasons I love the fall is because it is the start of soup making season. I occasionally make soup in the summer but it isn't as satisfying as eating it on a cool, fall day. One of my favorites is this Tomato Basil Bisque. I've adapted this from the Lion House cookbook.

Tomato Basil Bisque
Four servings

Ingredients:
7 Roma tomatoes
2 cans (10.5 oz) reduced sodium tomato soup
1 1/4 cup cream
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 bunch basil (about seven leaves) or 1 T dry basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Line a cookie sheet with foil and place whole Roma tomatoes on it. Place in the oven for 1 1/2-2 hours at 350 degrees. Tomatoes will be done when the tops begin to blacken.


Let tomatoes cool enough to peel off the skins. Place tomatoes in a blender with the basil. Blend until pureed.

In a large pot add the tomato soup and chicken and beef broth. Add the puree. Bring to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Then add the cream and salt and pepper. Simmer a few more minutes and then serve. We love to eat this with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Cake Roll

Today for the 'Gotta Love Pumpkin series, I will be sharing my husband's favorite fall treat. The Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Cake Roll. It is delicious! Isn't anything with cream cheese is divine? So, here goes...

Ingredients
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Cream Cheese Filling
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
6 tbl butter
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 tsp vanilla

Directions

Beat eggs with mixer on high for five minutes.


Gradually add in the sugar. Stir in the pumpkin and lemon juice. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt and add to the pumpkin mixture.

Line a cookie sheet pan with wax paper. Grease the paper and then pour batter onto the pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.


Turn the cake onto a kitchen towel coated in powdered sugar and roll and let cool.


Once cool, unroll and frost with cream cheese filling. For the filling, mix the softened butter and cream cheese. Then add the vanilla and powdered sugar.


Once the inside is frosted reroll and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Cut and serve. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.