I was lucky enough to get a lamb shoulder from my friend, Kaey Bray, who raises extraordinary lambs. I knew it needed moist heat so I decided to make a stew. I started the lamb in the crock pot with onions, garlic, carrots and bay leaves. I also added a quart of chicken stock and let it go all night on low. Since we were having the dish for lunch I wanted to be sure the meat was falling apart tender. Late morning I added whole fresh mushrooms, diced sweet potatoes, Tuscan seasoning , red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast and some home made vegetable soup base. Before serving  I mixed some water and flour and added it to thicken the liquid. I let it simmer about 30 more minutes and served it over hot cooked pasta. I did not cut the meat up- trust me it was moist and fork tender. Jonathan was so happy.  Well, we both were.

Lamb Stew

1 lamb shoulder roast, about 2-3 lbs.

3 onions, peeled and chopped

1 lb. carrots, peeled and chopped

20 cloves peeled garlic- not a misprint- Jonathan loves garlic

1 qt. chicken stock

1 lb. fresh mushrooms, trimmed and washed

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 T. soup base – or salt and pepper to taste

1 T. Tuscan seasoning

1 T. Nutritional yeast

1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. water

Place lamb in crock pot with carrots, onions, garlic and stock and cook on high for 2 hours. Turn down to low and continue cooking for 4- 8 hours longer. Add mushrooms, sweet potato and seasoning and cook on high 1 hour longer. Combine flour and water in jar with tight-fitting lid and shake to combine. Pour into lamb mixture stirring until mixed. Cook 30 minutes longer and serve over hot cooked pasta.

 

Since I have had a lot of response to the cookie pictures I thought I had better post the recipe. Just a simple sugar cookie with royal icing. Always tasty and like any classic, always in style.

 

 

 Sugar Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

3 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

3 T. milk

Extra sugar for sprinkling, if desired

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Beat in milk. Heat oven to 375-degrees. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/3- inch thickness. Cut out with lightly floured cutters and sprinkle with sugar or colored sugar if you like and if you are not going to frost them. Bake on an un-greased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 3 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool completely. Frost when cooled. Makes about 4 dozen.

Decorating your cookies:

You can use buttercream frosting  but I prefer to use royal icing. Because royal icing contains egg whites it gets hard. Cookies have a smooth appearance and can be stacked. When making royal icing ALWAYS USE PASTEURIZED EGG WHITES OR POWDERED EGGS WHITES TO PREVENT SAMONELLA.

You can also use colored sugar and sprinkles and mini chocolate chips for eyes.

 

Royal Icing

1 lb. powdered sugar

½ t. cream of tartar

5¼ t. egg white powder, available in some grocery stores and in baking supply stores

6 T. water

½ t. vanilla, optional

Assorted food colorings, I used a little pink in the “piggies”.

In large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and mix well. Add water and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Divide into small bowls and tint each batch as needed. Keep bowl covered with a damp towel while waiting to use as royal icing dries out quickly.

Its sometimes a challenge to use leftovers. I often use them in soups and salads. Today I found myself with some leftover cooked chicken and wanted to do something fun with it. I decided to make a big salad but rather than just add the chicken I first heated up the chicken in some home made barbecue sauce. It made the whole salad more fun and the warm chicken was a nice counterpoint to the cold salad veggies. Super easy and very tasty.

Barbecue Chicken Salad

3-4 cups lettuce, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces

1/2 c. shredded cabbage

1/2 c. chopped sweet pepper

salt and pepper to taste

1-2 T.olive oil

1-2 T. cider vinegar

1 c. cooked chicken, cubed

1/2 c. barbecue sauce

1/4 c. cashews

Arrange veggies in bowl on on a plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Place chicken on small skillet and add the barbecue sauce. Heat until bubbly, stirring often. Spoon over the vegetable mixture and sprinkle with cashews.

 

Having friends over for dinner. Doing a Southern-influenced picnic. I thought this would be the perfect dessert. Soft, sweet and moist it is the right finish for our dinner. If you end up with extra sweet potatoes it is also a great way to use them up. Just 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes is used in the recipe.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake

1 1/2 c. cake flour*

1/2 t. each baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 c. sour cream, room temperature

1 1/3 c. sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1/2 c. mashed sweet potato

1 t. vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly oil an 8×4-inch loaf pan.** Mix flour with next 4 ingredients and set aside. In large mixing bowl beat together butter and sour cream. Beat in sugar and then beat in eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in mashed sweet potato and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in pan 30 minutes before loosening cake sides from pan and removing. After cake has cooled wrap in foil and store at room temperature. Serves 8.

*Rather than keeping cake flour on hand, you can add lib in a pinch. There are 2 ways to substitute.

For each cup of cake flour you can measure 1 cup of regular all purpose flour and then just remove 2 table spoonfuls of the flour.

Some recipes also call to remove the 2 table spoons of regular flour and replace them with 2 tablespoon of cornstarch. I’ve tried both methods in baking and have had fine results either way. It is important that you measure the flour correctly to begin with. Flour should always be spooned into the measuring cup and then leveled off with a knife.

For a larger amount:

7 cups flour

1 c. cornstarch

Sift together and store until ready to use.

** I used a 9×5-inch loaf pan. The bread does not get at high but it still works fine at this size and the cooking time was reduced by 10 minutes.