Fried Squash Blossoms

One of the fun things about being a mom is the fact that you get to meet all sorts of other moms.  And in previous lives those moms had all sorts of fun and interesting jobs.  One of the moms that I've recently come to know used to be (and really, still is) a chef.  A couple of weeks ago, she told me what the squash blossoms you can sometimes find at farmers' markets are for.

Preparation Time: Maybe 20 minutes to stuff a dozen and another 10 to batter and fry.

Ingredients:
One dozen squash blossoms
some soft cheese or other filling
oil
egg
flour

Directions:

Waiting to be fried

Very carefully open the blossom, trying not to tear it.  Into the blossom, slide a couple of cheese slivers or some other stuffing.  Twist the blossom closed.  When you have all of your blossoms stuffed, start heating some oil in a pan, enough to fry the blossoms, not just saute them.  I used about half an inch.

In a small bowl whisk one egg with a tablespoon or two of water and place some flour in another bowl.  Individually dip each blossom in egg and then coat with flour.  Drop into the hot oil.  Once I got all of the blossoms into the oil I flipped them over (too cheap to use enough oil to cover them in the first place) and I took them out and placed them on a paper towel when they started to look crunchy.

Notes:
I'm sure these look prettier when done in a restaurant by a professional chef.  I've never actually fried anything before, so be nice ;).

I'm not sure where one finds squash blossoms.  We have them at our farmers' market for $2/dozen which Laura tells us is a really good price.

Even Cory liked them :)  Although next time I think I'll use goat cheese instead of Brie.  I always try to convince myself I like Brie and I usually fail.

Source: Laura
Servings: 4 or so

Due Tomorrow: Appetizers

Next Week's Topic:  Chocolate

Any votes for the following?  Any new topic ideas?  Are we getting bored with this whole recipe blog idea?  Or is the summer just busy?

Curried Chicken Salad

A friend of ours makes some fantastic curried chicken balls as appetizers.  It is more work making the little balls than I would like, so I've converted it into a chicken salad

Preparation Time: 10 minutes or so

Ingredients:
1/2 - 1 pkg cream cheese, softened
enough mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
2 tablespoons orange marmalade or apricot preserves
2 teaspoons (or more) curry powder
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon white pepper
3 cup chopped, shredded, or ground cooked chicken
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts or almonds

Directions:
Mix everything together and serve on a bed of lettuce or in a sandwich.  The actual amounts are very flexible and depend on how strong your curry is and your mayo to cream cheese preference.  I'm sure you could toss in sour cream or yogurt in place of one or both as well.

Source: Modified from Joan Fletcher

Due Today: Salads

Next Week's Topic:  Appetizers

Any votes for the following?

Quinoa Salad

This is a tasty salad twangy salad that I make quite often. The measurements here are truly just guidelines. I really tend to fiddle with the amounts in this recipe quite a bit.


Ingredients:
1 bell pepper (pick your favorite color)
1-2 large carrots
3 tomatoes
1 cup raw Red Quinoa

Ingredients for the Rice Wine Vinaigrette:

1 tsp. finely grated ginger or 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
6 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. sesame oil

Directions:
Cook quinoa (takes about 15 minutes)
Chop veggies
mix quinoa and veggies

Make the rice wine vinaigrette in a separate bowl (modifying measurements to taste)

pour vinaigrette over veggies.

Serve or cool in fridge and eat at your leisure

Source: Modified by me from this recipe: http://www.notderbypie.com/quinoa-salad-with-tofu-beets-and-avocado/

Cherry Salad

This recipe comes from my mother and was at EVERY family gathering while growing up...still good!

Ingredients: 
1 Quart Cherries (if you can them) or 2 cans pitted tart red cherries in water
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C cream (whipping or 1/2 and 1/2)
mini marshmallows
banana

Directions: 
Drain cherries, saving juice. Add ½ C sugar to cherry juice and heat. Drop in cherries and let stand 1 hour.

Mix egg, sugar and cream. Heat in heavy pan over medium heat until thick and boiling. Stir continuously. Cool (so marshmallows don’t melt).

Drain cherries, add marshmallows and dressing. Cover and chill. Add sliced banana when ready to serve.

(Sauce can be doubled..)

Serves: 6-8
Source: Gram

Cauliflower Cashew Salad

This is a great tasting and very pretty salad.

Preparation Time: About 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets
4 medium carrots, halved and thinly sliced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 bottle (8 ounces) ranch salad dressing
1/2 cup cashews

Directions:
In a serving bowl, combine the cauliflower, carrots and peas. Drizzle with dressing; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Just before serving, stir in cashews.

Source: Taste of Home
Servings: 10 servings

Overnight French Toast

This has been a family favorite for as long as I can remember... always requested

Preparation Time: 20 minutes, then overnight to rest, another

Ingredients:
16 slices white bread, trimmed of crusts, cut into cubes
2 pkgs (8oz) cream cheese, cubed
2 C milk
12 eggs
1 C maple syrup
2-3 peeled, thinly sliced apples
2 T sugar mixed with 2 T cinnamon

Directions:
Place half of bread in a greased 9 X 12 pan. Add cream cheese, then add rest of bread. Add mixture of milk, beaten eggs & syrup. Cover and refrigerate over night.

Top with sliced apples and sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar.

Bake at 375º for 60-90 minutes…until set. Serve with syrup.

Source: Carmen
Servings: 8

This Week's Topic: Salads

Sorry for the delay!

Chocolate Chip & Banana Muffins

When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. These muffins are so quick and easy to make, and are SO yummy! It's a simple recipe that is very easy to include kids in the mixing process. They are so good that you don't even need to put butter on them when they're done, but are even more delicious if you choose to do so! I also freeze them like the recipe recommends. Obviously they are not as tasty as just out of the oven, but I still enjoy them. A different recipe you can use to get rid of those overripe bananas!

Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes prep - approx. 30 minutes to bake.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 6)
3 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips (6 ounces)

Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 350° and line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper or foil liners. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, melted butter, bananas and eggs; mix thoroughly. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until the batter is evenly moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips.

-Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for about 28 minutes*, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the muffins cool for 10 minutes before turning them out onto a rack to cool completely.

*I cook mine for almost 5 minutes less because I've found that 28 minutes in my oven makes the muffins too dry. Be sure to check them with a toothpick about 5 minutes before to see how your oven bakes them.

Make Ahead
The banana muffins can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 1 month. Let thaw and toast in a 350° oven.

Source: Food and Wine
Servings: 24 muffins

Overnight Aspargus Strata

Preparation Time:
Prep: 15 min. + chilling Bake: 40 min. + standing

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 English muffins, split and toasted
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1 cup cubed fully cooked ham
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
8 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
In a large saucepan, bring 8 cups water to a boil. Add asparagus; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately place asparagus in ice water. Drain and pat dry.

Arrange six English muffin halves, cut side up, in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Fill in spaces with remaining muffin halves. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese, asparagus, ham and red pepper.   In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, mustard and pepper; pour over muffins. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.

Source: Taste of Home
Servings: 6-8

Due Tomorrow: Breakfast

Votes for next week?

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

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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.