Cinnamon Quick Bread

Today I'm guest posting over at House Honeys for the lovely Doreen.  I'm making one of my favorite post-holiday treats....Cinnamon Quickbread.  Yummmm......Just click HERE to see the post.

CINNAMON QUICKBREAD

While you're their, be sure to spend some time cruising around Doreen's blog, she has some wonderful things to share!

CILANTRO LIME HERB BUTTER

I love butter, there is no denying it.  I'm a girl who likes to have her baked potato with tons of butter....possibly even to the point of buoyancy.  A hot dinner roll doesn't have enough butter unless that first bite sends some running down my chin.  Yeah.  Well, I'm having to be a little more health conscious these days and the days of lakes and rivers of butter are pretty much over for me.  I can still have it, just in moderation.  So...I've been enjoying some herb butters that give just a little bit of butter a big punch of flavor.

My latest favorite is this Cilantro Lime Herb Butter.  It's delicious on corn on the cob, black beans, rice or warm tortillas and I imagine many other things, but those are what I've tried it on so far.  Don't you just love those little pats of butter set out on a table?  Perfect portion control for me, but also just a little on the elegant side.
This was so easy.  All I did was soften a stick of butter, add a couple of tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice and about 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro.  I used a small whisk to make sure it was mixed well.  Then I used a little spatula to smoosh it into a couple of flexible ice cube trays ($1 from the dollar store).

It's a little messy, but just wipe the edges clean and stick it in the fridge for a day to let the flavors blend.  

You can just pop them right out and into a ziploc bag and store them in the freezer....

or, you can put them out on a tray on your dinner table and impress your guests....

 I had a little left over, so I filled a couple of those little salad dressing containers that you get from a restaurant (yes, I wash them and save them *sigh*).  They hold just enough to add to a dish of rice or a pan of black beans.  Yummmmm.

If you want to try another amazing herb butter, check out this mouth-watering wonderfulness from my friend Maureen over at It's All Connected.  It's a Gourmet Herb Butter for Steak and I can testify that it will take your steaks up a level or three.  Just try it.

Gourmet Herb Butter for Steak

I can tell you that there will be plenty of grilling going on this week because we are looking at possible triple digit temps and that pretty much means I'm not turning on the oven.  I will however be spending plenty of time out in said heat, because this is happening at my house right now....

We'll be putting in some french drains, spreading all of that gravel, and then pouring a concrete patio and adding some gravel walkways to our back yard.  Okay...we'll be having the patio poured, but we'll be doing the rest....outside...in triple digit temperatures....and then we'll have steak on the grill, with herb butter....and lots of iced tea.   
Thank you Maureen for letting me link to you and your recipe today!

BERRY CRUMBLES.....DESSERT IN 20 MINUTES!

Today, I'm sharing my secret weapon for an awesome and easy dessert. 

I am a berry hoarder.  I never turn down berries when someone offers them and I've been known to pick 8 gallons of blueberries in a morning.  My freezer is mostly full of fruit.  I'm terrified that next March may come and I won't have berries for muffins or worse yet....I'll have to buy them from the store.  
I'm not a pie maker.  Can't make a decent pie crust to save my life, but.....I can make the most wonderful fruit crumbles in a flash because I make a ton of crumble topping and put it in the freezer....in between all of the raspberries, blueberries, peaches and blackberries.  You won't believe how easy this is.

Crumble Topping

(makes 8 single serve desserts)

1 3/4 C. flour             1/2 C. light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon   1/2 tsp. coarse salt

15 tablespoons cold butter

Throw everything in a bowl and use a pastry cutter (your fingers, a fork or 2 knives works just as well) to blend it all until small lumps form.

At this point, you can either use it or freeze it in a container until you need it......or want it.

Anytime you want dessert, it's only 20 minutes away from this point.  All you do is lightly oil (I use cooking spray) some ramekins, custard cups, oven-safe bowls or, you can just make one big dessert in a pan...it's all the same process.  Throw the fruit (fresh or frozen) in your prepared dish and sprinkle a little sugar on top to make it juicy. (No need to thaw the fruit or the topping.)

Now pile some of that yummy, crumbly topping right on top.  (We use lots!)

Bake it in the oven 20 minutes or until it's brown and bubbly.

Let it cool down a bit and enjoy!  Better yet....throw a scoop of ice cream on top....you know you want to!

I cannot tell you how fast, easy, tasty and impressive this simple dessert is.  Well, I guess I can, because I just did.  Anyway, I have never had this fail and again, I never say "no" to berries....or peaches...or apples. 

THAI PEANUT CHICKEN SALAD

In the heat of summer, an easy, hearty, no-cook salad is always appreciated.  That it's pretty too is just a bonus!

This is one of my favorite "cheater recipes" because you can use pre-cooked chicken (think rotisserie from the deli aisle), coleslaw mix from a bag and bottled peanut sauce.  All you have to do is chop a couple of green onions and a red bell pepper.  I like to make my own peanut sauce and I'll share my recipe at the end, but bottled peanut sauce is just as tasty and so easy.  

Thai Peanut Chicken Salad

Serves 6

3 C. cooked, chicken (shredded or cubed)

3/4 C. Thai Peanut Sauce (bottled or homemade)

1 pkg. (16 oz.) coleslaw mix

1 red bell pepper (chopped)

1/3 C. Toasted Sesame or Sesame Ginger salad dressing

3 green onions (sliced)

3/4 C. Chow Mein Noodles 

Pineapple or Mandarin Oranges optional, but ever so pretty.

Mix the chicken and Thai Peanut Sauce in a bowl.  Chop the green onion and red bell pepper.  In a large bowl, put the coleslaw mix, the red bell pepper and pineapple or mandarin oranges if using any. Stir in the salad dressing. Transfer it to an oblong serving dish or platter. (I used a glass 13X9 pan.  Presentation is everything, right?)

Spoon the chicken mixture over the the coleslaw mix and top with green onion and Chow Mein noodles. Serve and enjoy! Now how easy was that?

 

If you want to make your own peanut sauce, here is my recipe:

Thai Peanut Sauce

Makes about 3/4 Cup

6 Tbsp. peanut butter

4 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp. lime juice

2 Tbsp. sesame oil (you can sub olive oil or canola oil)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp. crushed red chili flakes

6 Tbsp. water

Mix it all together until it's smooth.  (I use a wire whisk.) 

Easter Macaroons from "Cook The TV"!!

Hey everyone!  I'm about finished up with my renovation and will move in next week...finally!!  In the mean time, my friend Di from Cook the TV has a great tasting, easy recipe for Easter and she's been kind enough to share it here on my blog!  Please give a warm welcome to Di!

Hi everyone. Thanks Danni so much for the kind invitation to do a guest post. I have been a huge fan of Silo Hill Farm for a  long time.

My name is Di. I blog over at CTV. I started the blog about a year and a half ago. At the time, I was watching a lot of cooking shows on TV and thought it would be great fun to take the famous TV chef's recipes and make them more accessible for busy moms and home cooks.

A little about me: I'm 50, divorced, have 3 beautiful grown daughters, 2 grandsons and 1 granddaughter. I love my girls and miss them being home, even after having an empty nest for about 4 years now! I'm pretty sentimental about my kids. I even exchanged a few tearful emails with Amy of While Wearing Heels about her daughter going off to kindergarten! I think the "tearful" part was mainly on my end! Haha.

Today's recipe is a fun take on a very easy macaroon that I originally made on the blog earlier this year. 

The original recipe is from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I saw this in a magazine and had to do it for you. I simply made the macaroons, indented them slightly with a spoon while they were warm out of the oven, and placed tiny "eggs" in them. This recipe makes about 20 cookies. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk- 1 can
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 extra-large or large egg whites, at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• candy in the shape of tiny eggs, I used Cadbury Mini Eggs, chocolate with a candy shell

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed with a hand-held electric mixer, or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, until the egg whites form medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
3. Drop the batter onto the baking sheets, using either a 1¾-inch diameter ice cream scoop, or 2 teaspoons. Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. 
4. Remove from oven and immediately indent the center of each cookie, using the back of a small spoon. 
5. Remove from pan and let cool. 
6. Drop 2 or 3 "egg" candies into each "nest". 

Thanks so much for your time everyone! And thanks, Danni, for letting me strut my stuff on your wonderful blog:0 Happy Easter every one:)

ARTISAN BREAD...EASIEST EVER! (no lie)

I had a really hard time trying to decide what to title this post.  It could have been "I Didn't Sleep At All Last Night" or "The Best Blueberry Jam...Ever!" or "Two Truths and One Lie" (did you ever play that game..so fun!).  But, I went with "Artisan Bread...Easiest Ever" and THAT is the first truth.  It is the easiest bread I've ever made.

I was inspired to make this bread because Karen over at The Feral Turtle made some really good-looking blueberry jam.  Check it out.

Blue Blooded Diva Blueberry Jam

Now I love blueberry jam.  It's my favorite and I told Karen so and that hers looked delicious in the comments on her post.  She emailed me and told me she would send me some.  Was I polite and said, "Oh no! You don't have to do that!" ?  NO.  I replied with my home address immediately because the idea of homemade blueberry jam supersedes all pretense of politeness for me.  (I did thank her profusely.)  
Karen emailed me back about a week later and told me the jam was en route. I told her that I was going to make some of the "No Knead Bread" she had posted on her blog later in the week so that I could try it with her jam when it arrived.  And THAT my friends is the lie.  Now I didn't mean to lie.  My intentions were great.  But I got busy and the jam arrived and I had not made the bread.  
Now let me just say, that Karen didn't just send me a small jar of jam like you see in her picture above.  Oh no.  She sent me a BIG jar of it as well as some very wonderful hand cream AND a bar of foot rub, all homemade and all blueberry scented!  I didn't waste a second.  I opened up that blueberry jam and stuck a large spoon in it and shoved it in my mouth.  Heaven!  Best blueberry jam EVER!  And THAT is the second truth!  Thank you so much Karen!
So...back to that awesomely easy bread and my lie.  So that jam arrived, I needed homemade bread and I needed it STAT!  I did not have the wheat bran nor the cornmeal called for in her recipe.  Damn.  I jumped on the computer and googled some bread recipes and found this recipe called "How to Make Easy, Fast, Foolproof Bread From Scratch".  I was intrigued.  This was a make-it-all-in-one-plastic-Rubbermaid-style-container, no-knead, store-it-in-the-fridge, pull-out-whatever-you-want-and throw-it-in-the-pan, artisan-style bread that goes together in 20 minutes and bakes in 30 minutes and looked too good to be true.  Which meant I had to try it.  I made it last night and put it in the fridge to do it's thing.  Then I couldn't sleep.  So, at 2 o'clock in the morning, I made a loaf of bread.

Uh-huh!  Everything this recipe claimed was true. Everything.  It was the easiest bread I've ever made and there was a time when I made bread every week, because I'm not a fan of calcium propianate and you shouldn't be either.  But......

yep, there was no way I was putting that precious blueberry jam on store-bought bread.  Oh, and I use real butter too!

Did you notice my funky-looking butter container?  Want to have soft, room temperature butter year-round?  Get yourself a French Butter Bell.

It's an amazing little 2 piece glass container that keeps butter on your counter fresh.  

It's so simple and yet so genius!  The top half is filled with butter.  The bottom has water in it.  Put the top half into the bottom half and you have an instant water seal that protects your butter from air, which is what causes it to spoil.  I've used one for years and have never had butter spoil.  Google "Butter Bell" and you'll find them in all shapes and colors, running from $12.95 to over $40.00.  
Oh, and finally, if you are still with me after this long post...I used 1/3 of the bread dough from that container in my fridge to make that loaf, which means I'll have 2 more loaves ready to bake over the next couple of weeks.  The recipe says it keeps for several weeks in the fridge!  Yumm.  If anyone else wants to send me jam, I'm ready!
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STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

My husband Sam likes to make French Toast, and for this I am grateful.  However, there are just two of us, so when he makes it, there are always leftovers and I freeze them.  It's pretty easy to pop a few slices of frozen French Toast in the toaster and heat them back up and we do it frequently.  A couple of weeks ago, strawberries were on sale, so I made this with some of the leftover frozen French Toast.....

I'm not going to lie to you...it was killer stuff and it only took about 20 minutes start to finish.  Here's the story morning glory....

All you need are a couple of slices of frozen French Toast (thawed), some Cream Cheese (I used the soft spreadable kind), sliced strawberries and some powdered sugar.

Mix some powdered sugar into your cream cheese with a fork.  I didn't measure anything, I just put it in until it tasted slightly sweet.

Butter one side of a slice of French Toast.  Spread some cream cheese mixture on the other side and put some sliced strawberries on it.  Now this next step is only slightly tricky.  Put the slices together like a sandwich, flip it over and put it in a skillet sprayed with pan spray.  THEN you put butter on the top of the side with the strawberries and cream cheese.  Grill it up, just like you would a grilled cheese.  (I've got two cooking here, one flipped and one about to be.)

Put it on a plate, slice it in half and sprinkle with powdered sugar. 

If you're carnivores like we are, add some bacon.....

If your husband doesn't make French Toast for you, I'm pretty sure you could use the store-bought kind.  I'm also pretty sure you could use blueberries, bananas, peaches, raspberries or blackberries in stead of the strawberries.  Fast, easy and yummy!  What more could you ask for?
I'm sharing this recipe today over at the Inspiration Cafe's Soup and Sandwiches Link Party......because I'm calling this a breakfast sandwich.  If you've got a soup or sandwich recipe to share, please head over to the Inspiration Cafe and link it right up.  If you don't, teach your husband or kid to make French Toast and stick some in the freezer so you can make this!

Just click the picture above to get to the link party!

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HOW TO FREEZE PUMPKIN

Now that the Halloween season is almost over, what are you going to do with some of those pumpkins that are scattered throughout your decor?  How about making your own pumpkin puree?  Once you use your own pumpkin puree, you will never want to use that canned pumpkin again.  Promise.
Don't be intimidated....it's as easy as pumpkin pie!

 I got 10 cups of pumpkin puree (the equivalent of 5 cans) out of this one 10lb. Fairytale pumpkin.

I chose a Fairytale pumpkin because it is hands down the sweetest tasting pumpkin out there, but you can use whatever kind you have.
Let's do this!  Grab a bag, a knife or small saw and something to scrape the pumpkin guts out with.

 Cut that pumpkin in half.  I recommend saving the stem for a project I'll tell you about at the end of this post.

Scrape out the guts and throw them in that plastic bag.  If you're a pumpkin seed eater, save your seeds.  I'm not.  Check out the gorgeous bright orange flesh in this Fairytale pumpkin.  (I did not color enhance any of these pictures.)

Bring it in the house, rinse it off, pat it dry and save that stem!

Place the two pumpkin halves cut side down on a foil covered cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  

Bake it at 400 degrees for about an hour and a half (longer if your pumpkin is bigger).  It should be all shiny and the skin will start to wrinkle slightly.

You should be able to stick a fork in it easily.

Let it cool down for about 45 minutes so you can handle it without burning your fingers, then cut each half into quarters and scoop the flesh out with a metal spoon.

(This picture is a little darker because I didn't have my light on over my stove, but that flesh is still as orange as can be...check it out.)
Put all of that flesh in a big bowl and just stand there being proud of yourself for a moment.  Gorgeous right? 

Just so you know why you are doing this...take a spoon and taste your pumpkin at this point.  Roasting your pumpkin this way brings out the natural sugars in it and it is so good!  Just so you know, I do not recommend the method of boiling pumpkin in water to puree it.  Pumpkin is already loaded with water and your puree will be too thin and runny.  (If you do have water in this big bowl of pumpkin, dump it in a colander and let is sit for a few minutes.)
At this point, you are ready to puree your pumpkin.  Some recipes will tell you to use a blender and some say a food processor.  Because I love you...I'm going to show you both.  I started out using my blender.  Just push "puree".

I did the other half with my food processor, which is about 25 years old and still works like a dream, so I just can't replace it with something new and fancier yet.

Both of these methods worked well, but I think I prefer the food processor.  The blender made more of a thin puree which is perfect for soups and recipes where you want to stir in some pumpkin.  The food processor gave me more of an "applesauce" texture, which is what you want for pies and breads.  It probably has something to do with the blades and diameter of the blender and you might be able to control that better by putting less in the blender.  I took a comparison picture for you.

You can see that the blender puree on the right is thinner and ran all the way to the edge of my ziploc bag, whereas the food processor puree on the left is a little thicker.  I made a little "FP" on the lower right corner of the bag of the food processor pumpkin so I'll know which is which when I want to use it.
I froze my puree in 2 Cup portions because that is about what most recipes call for when they say use a can of pumpkin.

I'd say 10 cups of pumpkin puree ought to get me through Thanksgiving, Christmas and the rest of winter!  I'll be sharing some awesome pumpkin recipes that you'll want to try for the upcoming holidays soon, but in the meantime, grab a pumpkin and make your own puree.  You'll be glad you did!
Oh....and that stem I told you to save?  My friend Kirby over at Kirb Apeal shared the easiest tutorial for a non-sewing girl like me and I'm going to use my pumpkin stem and Kirby's tutorial to make some of my Thanksgiving decor.  You can check her project out by clicking HERE.  In fact, I'm going to make 2 of them!  However, you don't really need a pumpkin stem...Kirby used a stick.  Everybody's got a stick, right?
Now...go start eyeing your pumpkins and pick one out to puree.  The baking season is almost upon us.  Speaking of cooking and recipes....don't forget that our Soups and Sandwiches link party is coming up over at the Inspiration Cafe.  Today, my dear friend Mel from Mellywood's Mansion is sharing a bit of Aussie Awesomeness over at the Inspiration Cafe.  Check it out by clicking HERE.

Linking up to....