Due Yesterday: Ice Cream

Next Week's Topic:  Breakfast.

Sorry for the lack of moderating lately...  Maddy and I've only spent 3.5 of the last 31 days at home.  Things should be heading back to normal next week!

Rocky Road Ice Cream

YUMMY!!!

Preparation Time:  Prep: 15 min. + cooling Process: 20 min./batch + freezing

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
3 cups half-and-half cream
9 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2-3/4 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 cups heavy whipping cream
3 cups miniature marshmallows
2-1/4 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups chopped pecans
6 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
In a large saucepan, combine milk and half-and-half; heat to 175°. Add chocolate, sugar and salt; stir until chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat. Cool quickly by placing pan in a bowl of ice water; stir for 2 minutes. Cool completely. Transfer to a large bowl; stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full; freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze. When ice cream is frozen, transfer to a freezer container; freeze for 2-4 hours before serving. Yield: about 4-1/2 quarts.

Source: Taste Of Home
Servings: 36, I usually cut this recipe in half.

Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie

I had this pie my first Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. I never liked pumpkin pie until this recipe and now I like most pumpkin pies.

Ingredients:
9" Graham Cracker crumb crust in foil pan
1/2 box vanilla ice cream
3/4 cup mashed pumpkin

Mix the following ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed) - medium brown is best
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)


Directions:
Soften the ice cream enough to be able to mix it with the pumpkin and mixed dry ingredients. Mix well to blend the ingredients. DO NOT overmix or make the ice cream soupy.

Pour into your pie crust. You will probably have leftover mixture, so you can buy two crusts, just in case. Leave some allowance in the first pie crust for the mixture to expand as it freezes.

For the best freezing, make the pie the night before you need it.

The pie will get very hard, so put it in the refrigerator a couple of hours before you want to eat it.

Source: Becky Tinio

Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

Maddy's favorite, but it's not for everyone.  It is definitely not sweet.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes prep, 20-30 minutes freeze

Ingredients:
1 large container whole milk cream top yogurt
1 bag frozen raspberries
1/2 cup honey

Directions:
Let the raspberries defrost, mix everything together and pour in the ice cream maker.  Mix until done.

Notes:
The cream top whole milk yogurt is important.  The fat content is helpful in keeping it from freezing solid.  It still does freeze pretty hard after a full day and night in the freezer, so I think I'm going to try adding some egg beaters (the non-e-coli alternative to the traditional raw eggs).

Source: Me!
Servings: About 2 quarts

Simple Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt

Thankfully, Lis gave Tom and I an electric ice cream maker for a housewarming gift and with this warm summer weather and the current heat wave we have been making very good use of it! This is our favorite recipe out of the few we've tried, and it is so simple you really can't mess it up. It is so delicious, and much healthier than Ben & Jerry's!

Preparation Time: 5-10 minutes prep, 20-30 minutes freeze time

Ingredients:
Fresh Cherries, coarsely chopped
Vanilla Yogurt
A couple splashes of milk
A drizzle of honey
Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Chop the cherries and place in a bowl. Add the amount of yogurt you'd like, milk, and honey. Mix well. Follow manufacturer directions for your ice cream maker to freeze.

Notes:
*My ice cream maker recommends adding the chips 5 minutes before it's done freezing, but you can also just use them as a topping.

*I didn't put exact measurements because you can really customize the recipe to your own liking, that's the best part! If you want a starting point: I typically use half of a large container of yogurt and probably about 1 cup of coarsely chopped cherries (we love cherries!), literally two splashes of milk, and about 1 tbsp honey. The cherries add enough sweetness for us so other than the honey, we don't add any additional sugar.

Source: Me
Servings: Varies

Cottage Cheese Dill Bread

I love dill, so when I saw this recipe I was really interested in trying it, especially because I don't like any type of cottage cheese. I messed up multiple times with the recipe, and found the bread to be a little dry, but I'm owing it to the fact that it was my first loaf of homemade bread ever. The bread was delicious with a sandwich, but next time I might attempt to make it more moist by adding more cottage cheese, and it could probably use double the amount of dill. I've listed the recipe directly from the website I found it on for you to make your own adjustments. I will definitely make this bread again!

Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes prep/knead time, 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours rise time, 45 minutes cook time

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. instant yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 cup cottage cheese (full or reduced fat), at room temperature
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 heaping tbsp. fresh onion, finely minced
1 1/2 tbsp. fresh dill, minced
1 tbsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. olive oil
5 to 6 1/2 cups bread flour *

*I only used 4 cups of flour, and I swear all the ingredients before the flour were measured correctly. Decide for yourself how much to put in since you add 1 cup at a time.

Directions:
Combine the yeast and the water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and stir to dissolve the yeast. Add all remaining ingredients except flour to the bowl and mix until a dough has formed. Switch over to the dough hook and stir at low speed. Add flour 1 cup at a time until you have a soft dough that clears the sides of the bowl. Continue kneading on low speed for 5-6 minutes. Transfer the dough ball to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place. (I preheat my oven to 150 degrees F, turn it off as soon as it reaches this temp, and then put the dough in.) Let rise until the dough has doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

When the dough has doubled, punch it down and shape into a log the size of a loaf pan. Place into a lightly greased loaf pan and press down gently so that the dough touches all sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise again in a warm place, 30-60 minutes.

When the loaf has risen, remove the plastic wrap and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning and bake another 15-20 minutes longer. Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from pan and cool to room temperature on a wire rack.


Source: Annie's Eats: http://www.annies-eats.com/

Knox/Jump Family Ice Cream

Write an optional description

Preparation Time:First have all your ingredients chilling in the refrigerator.

Second, prepare your ice by filling a cloth bag and breaking it into coarse pieces using a mallet or hammer.

Third place your stainless steel cream can into the wooden tub so that it rests easily on the metal tub center in the bottom of the tub. Insert your dasher in the can making sure that the protrusion on the bottom of the cream can fits into the socket of the dasher.

Fourth, pour your recipe into the cream can, never filling the can more than half full. Assemble the can cover and turn the dasher stem with your fingers until it turns freely.
Fifth, place the gear-frame into position by grasping the gear-frame and engage the dasher stem into the socket of the gear-frame. If you have a hand crank freezer, slide the cranking end into the tub ear. The opposite end of the gear-frame fits into the tub latch. Gently push the thumb latch down until the gear-frame is snug. If you own an electric unit, be sure to hold the unit with the label facing you. Insert the right side of the unit into the steel ear and the left side (marked latch end) fits into the latch, Gently push the thumb latch down until unit is secure.

Finally, it is time to fill the wooden tub with ice. Fill your tub to the top of the can with ice. Crank or run your motor for about 2 minutes so that the can chills evenly. Add cups of rock salt to the top of the ice. As the ice melts down 2 to inches, add more ice and 2 more cups of salt.

The amount of ice and rock salt you use will vary according to the ambient air temperature. Do not increase your salt usage until you have churned the freezer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes you should notice the cream becoming firmer At this point, if too much salt is used the result will be excessive freezing to the extent that a crust of frozen cream will fore, on the inside edge of the can while the middle will remain liquid. If this occurs, allow the brine to warm up and thereafter decrease the amount of salt added when you add ice

NOTE: Occasionally, your dasher blade screws may loosen allowing the blades to move more than 1/8" from the dasher. Simply screw the blades down to 1/8" and resume freezing.

Discontinue Churning
When your ice cream mix has been churned sufficiently (usually about 20-25 minutes and becomes the consistency of soft ice cream, it is ready for packing. The time can best be determined when it becomes difficult to turn the crank handle, or the motor begins to sound like it is really straining. Manually unplug your motor unit when you hear it straining, further churning will not improve the quality of the ice cream. Now remove the can cover. Take the dasher out and scrape off excess ice cream with a wooden spoon. Your ice cream is now ready to eat and enjoy!

Ingredients: 2 eggs
1 pint whipping cream
1 ½ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon

DirectionsMix well and add milk to make 2 quarts, pour into freezer (can). Freeze using ice cream maker.

Double recipe for a 4 quart freezer. Make sure all ingredients,freezer can and dasher stem are cold before starting.

Source: Type source here
Servings: Type number of servings here.

Monkey Bread

My grandma made this for us one time long long ago. It was amazing, and yet in the subsequent 25 years I have never made it or had it again. I think this is the recipe but all I remember is that she used pre-made biscuits and found the recipe in the newspaper.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking

Ingredients:

3 (12 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup packed brown sugar

Directions:
Type directions here

1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube/Bundt® pan.

2: Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan.

3: In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.

4: Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Do not cut! The bread just pulls apart

Source: allrecipies.com
Servings: 8? I remember it went fast.

Helen Ryan's white bread

My mom (Cory's grandma and Maddy's great- grandma used to make amazing bread! I used to love to watch as the flab under her arm would swing back and forth while she stirred the heavy dough. She never measured anything, so one of my sisters followed one day as she made it and measured the ingredients as she added them. When she was through kneading it, she would say "Get it nice and smooth, then pat it like a baby's bottom." The potato water she used was the water she used to cook potatoes in. We had potatoes with dinner every night (like all good Irishmen!) so she always had potato water. Don't salt the potatoes when you cook them if you are going to use the water for bread. 

Preparation Time: A long time!!!!

Ingredients:
4 cups potato water
1/3 cup shortening (Crisco or lard)
1/3 cup sugar
2 pkgs. dry yeast or 3 small cakes fresh yeast ( Mom always used fresh)
1 Tablespoon salt
flour

Directions:
Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of luke warm potato water. Add salt, sugar, and shortening to the other 3 cups of hot potato water. Stir until luke warm. Add yeast and stir. Add 1 cup of flour at a time and mix with a large spoon until it forms a soft ball. Put on a floured board and add flour and knead until it is smooth and elastic. (Like a baby's bottom.) Use a wooden rolling pin and beat and turn dough. The more kneading, the lighter the bread will be. Place in a greased bowl and butter the top of the dough. Set it over a pan with 1 cup hot water in bottom of pan. Cover with a cloth. Let rise until double in bulk. Punch down. Let rise again, then make into rolls or loaves. Let rise until doubled. Bake in 400 degree oven for 35-40 minutes for loaves or 30 minutes for rolls.

Source: Submitted in loving memory of my mom.
Servings: 4 loaves but you can cut it down.

Bread Maker Cheese Bread

Works great for "hole in ones"!!

Ingredients:
1 pkg yeast
3 C bread flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 T sugar
1 C Buttermilk (room temp)
¼ C warm water
1 C grated cheddar cheese

Directions:
Press start

Apricot Scones

Maddy's favorite.  It is written for high altitude, but I may have low altitude/humid directions by the end of the week.

Preparation Time: 15 to prepare, 15 to bake

Ingredients:
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup brown or raw sugar (sucanat)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 stick very cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup milk or cream (the more fat the tastier)
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 apricots, cut into small pieces

Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together.  Use a pastry blender to cut in butter.  The butter should be pea-sized when finished.  In another bowl whisk together egg, milk or cream, and vanilla.  Fold wet ingredients and apricot into dry ingredients.  Try not to overwork the dough.  I like the texture final texture to be such that the dough is so dry it is just barely able to stay together.  You may even have some dry crumbes in the bottom of the bowl.

Flatten the dough into one or two circles that are about 1 to 1.5 inches thick.  If using one circle, cut into 8 pieces.  For two circles, I cut each into 6 pieces.  Lay on to a parchment paper covered pan and bake at 425 for 10-30 minutes.  This varies greatly depending on how wet your dough is.

Source: Mostly me
Servings: 8-12 scones

Dakota bread

A yummy whole wheat bread.

Ingredients: 3 cups warm water
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup shortening melted
1 Tablespoon salt
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup pumpkin seed
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in the warm water with honey. Add other ingredients. Knead until smooth. let rise until double. Shape into round loaves on a cookie sheet. Let rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Source: I developed this recipe after tasting the Dakota bread at Great Harvest. Their Dakota bread has mullet seeds in it, but I didn't like them when I used them. After many loaves of trial bread, this is the one I like best.

Servings: Makes 2 loaves.

Suggested Reading - Whole Grains

The new food pyramid suggests that half of all grains we consume be whole grains.  Why? and How?

Mayo Clinic explains why whole grains are better:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/whole-grains/NU00204

My favorite whole wheat, I use it in everything and can't tell the difference from white flour:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-white-whole-wheat-flour-5-lb

And, for the more adventurous, a discussion on sprouting grains and on soaking grains:
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/01/why-sprout.html
http://nourishedkitchen.com/soaking-grains-nuts-legumes/

Nourishing Traditions is an excellent book if you want to take this concept a bit further.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
4-6 chicken breast halves
4-6 pieces Swiss cheese
4-6 pieces thin ham slices
1 can mushroom soup
16 oz. sour cream
1/2 pkg. sliced mushrooms

1/2 package Pepperidge Farm fine fine seasoned stuffing
1/2 stick butter

Directions:
Place ham slices in a 9x13 pan. Top with chicken breasts, then put Swiss cheese on top of that. Spread mushrooms on top. Mix sour cream and soup, then pour over the top. Combine seasoned stuffing with melted butter. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 degrees for one and a half hours. If it starts to brown too much, cover it with foil the last half hour.

Source: My recipe box
Servings: 4-6

Salsa Chicken

scores high on "results vs. effort" . Chicken crock pot recipes never seem to work out for me, except for this one.

Preparation Time: about 10 minutes

Ingredients:

boneless chicken breasts, cut in half (about 2 lbs)

1 1/2 cups of your favorite salsa (not one jar)

1 tsp cumin

pinch of chili powder

3 tbsp fresh lime juice

Directions:
spray cookware with cooking spray. place breasts in cookware. cover with salsa. cook on HIGH for 3-3.5 hours

stir in cumin, chili powder, lime juice and cook for additional 15 minutes before serving

Source: Not your mother's slow cooker cookbook, Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann
Servings: 6-8

Chicken: Due Tomorrow

Next Week's Topic:  Breads.

Any votes for the following?

Korean Hot Wings

Ingredients:
8 chicken wings

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

5 tablespoon of cornstarch
1 cup of oil (canola, sesame, or corn)

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 oz fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

Sauce:

5 tablespoon Sweet Soy Base Sauce

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoon light corn syrup

Sweet Soy Base Sauce (makes 1 3/4 cup, can be stored up to 3 months in the refrigerator)

1/2 cup of water

4 cloves garlic, sliced

6 1/8 in ginger

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 cup soy sauce, low sodium

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup red wine or white wine

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce and bring to a boil in a saucepan. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the sauce through a sieve. Discard ginger and garlic.

Directions For Chicken Wings:

Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken wings. Coat chicken wings with corn starch.

Put oil in wok and heat up to 350 degrees F. Work in batches and fry the chicken on one side for two minutes. With a pair of tongs turn the chicken and fry for another minute.

Place the chicken wings on a wire rack.

Remove all the oil from the wok.

Add the sauce to the wok and put the chicken back in. Heat until the chicken is coated or the sauce is bubbling.

Source: Modified from "Korean Table" by Chung
Servings: Serves 2

Chicken Curry

This Chicken Curry is so delicious! It can be very healthy depending on the milk or cream you choose, but is a great substitution for ordering takeout. Also, it's Tom's favorite recipe that I make, which means it has to be good!

Preparation Time: Probably a little over an hour for prep and cook. It goes faster when you have a helper!

Ingredients:
2 pieces of chicken breast (or replace with rotisserie chicken)

1 tbsp curry powder

Olive Oil

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 granny smith apple, chopped

1-1/2 tablespoons curry powder (or more to taste)

1-1/2 tablespoons flour (equal the amount of curry powder)

1 cup plain yogurt (Organic kinds do not work!)

1-1/2 cups milk or cream (we use skim and it works fine)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 carrot, shredded thickly

(1) 8 oz. can pineapple chunks (or replace with fresh mango for a different twist)

A handful of pea pods, halved

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved

2 cups cooked brown rice

Major Grey's Hot or Regular Mango Chutney, for garnish

Raisins, for garnish

Crushed Peanuts, for garnish

Shredded coconut, for garnish

Extra curry powder, for garnish

Directions:
Season chicken breasts with curry powder and cook - grill, bake or pan fry. When finished, chop in bite size pieces. If you bought a rotisserie chicken, remove the meat, shredding or separating into bite size pieces, and set aside in a bowl.

Start your water for your rice, and cook accordingly.

Heat the oil in an extra large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and apple and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes. Combine the curry powder and flour in a small bowl, mixing well. Sprinkle over the apples and onions, stirring for 1 minute. Starting with the milk, add 1/2 cup to the pan, whisking well and scraping up the seasoning from the pan. Next add 1/2 cup of the yogurt, whisking liberally until well blended with the milk (my problem with the organic yogurt, is it wouldn't blend well and would cook so I had floating chunks of yogurt in my sauce, making me start all over!) Continue this rotation until you use the recommended amounts.

Add the chicken, carrots, pineapple or mango, and pea pods to the pan. Continue cooking on medium heat, making sure the sauce does not burn. It should thicken up a little from the flour added earlier. About 10 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the grape tomatoes.

Plate the rice, top with the curry sauce, and top with all or some of the garnishes to finish the meal!

Source: My version! Combined from Sharyl and Real Simple
Servings: 4 to 8 Servings

Chicken PIccata

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (cut in half) that have been pounded until ¼” thick.
2 T veg oil
¼ C dry white wine
1 t garlic, minced
½ C chicken broth
2 T fresh lemon Juice
1 T capers, drained
2 T butter
Fresh lemon slices

Directions:
Season chicken with salt and pepper then dust with flour. Spray a sauté pan with nonstick spray, add veg oil and heat over med-high. Sauté chicken 2-3 minutes on one side. Flip over and sauté other side 1-2 minutes with pan covered. Transfer chick to a warm plate.

Deglaze pan with wine and add garlic. Cook until garlic is slightly brown and liquid is nearly gone, about 2 minutes. Add broth, lemon juice and capers. Return chicken to pan and cook on each side 1 minute. Transfer chicken to a warm plate.

Finish by adding butter and lemon slices to pan. Once butter melts, pour sauce over chicken.

Servings: 4

Glazed Acorn Rings

Ingredients:
1 large acorn squash
1/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:
Trim ends from squash and cut into crosswise slices 3/4 inch thick. Remove seeds and membrane. Place slices in a large shallow casserole or baking dish. Add orange juice. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer 5 minutes. Pour over squash rings. Bake uncovered for an additional 15-20 min. basting occasionally.

Source: Phyllis
Servings: 6