Monthly Archives: September 2017

Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad

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Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad

When I was a kid, my mom used to make a wilted salad. She would toss spinach with a hot dressing and then top the salad with hard cooked eggs and croutons. The dressing was made with some of the bacon fat, since there was always bacon in the salad, too.  That was the inspiration for this salad.

I had planned to make a tossed salad with some fresh spinach, but something told me to go in another direction. Since I already had bacon and shrimp, I decided to just put them all together. With just a few extra ingredients tossed in, I ended up with a really good dinner. Sort of like those wilted salads my mom used to make.

I didn’t have a lot of time, so the fact that it was ready in about 15 minutes was nice, too. I put the pasta on to cook when I started cooking the bacon to save even more time.

Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad

3-4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 shallots- or 1 small onion- chopped fine
2 cloves minced garlic
8 oz. fresh spinach
8 oz. raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
¼ c. sherry
¼ c. chopped parsley
½ t. grated ginger
½ t. red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cooked pasta

 

Cook bacon in skillet until almost cooked. Add the shallots and cook until shallots are just turning brown. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add spinach and cook, stirring often, until spinach is wilted down. Add shrimp and continue cooking until shrimp are just barely cooked. Add sherry and seasonings and cook 2 minutes more. Toss with hot pasta and serve. Serves 2.
Note: You can add some fresh Parmesan cheese when serving, if you like.

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Chocolate Beet Cupcakes – Pink Velvet

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Chocolate Beet Pink Velvet Cupcakes

I have recently been gifted with some beets. Not just some beets, but pounds and pounds of beets. I will be making a lot of dishes with them, including pickled beets and beet relish. It’s a good thing I like them so much.

Thought I would share this fun recipe for cupcakes, using beets.  I already make a chocolate beet cake- which has red tones from the beets. I wanted a lighter texture for cupcakes, with more chocolate flavor,  so I made some changes to the beet cake recipe and ended up with these cupcakes.

Rich, but light, with a very subtle blush of red. I decided to call them Pink Velvet. I topped them with cream cheese frosting, but a dusting of powdered sugar would work well, too, or a favorite buttercream.

Here is the recipe. I hope you will give them a try.

Pink Velvet Cupcakes (Chocolate Beet)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
½ t. salt
¾ c. cocoa powder
1 c. butter, softened
1½ c. sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1½ cups grated cooked beets
Powdered sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 24-28 muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl; set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Slowly beat in dry ingredients until well mixed; stir in beets. Spoon batter into prepared tins, filling about 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when touched lightly or when toothpick, inserted into cupcakes , comes out clean. Cool before frosting. Makes 24-28.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 stick, (½ cup butter) softened
2-3 c. confectioners’ sugar
1T. vanilla

Beat all ingredients together until smooth and fluffy. Store in the fridge.

 

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Hot or Cold Beet Soup

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Hot or Cold Beet Soup

Since I have a large quantity of beets, I decided to make this soup. It was 92 degrees yesterday, so I enjoyed my beet soup chilled. Tomorrow, when it is much cooler, I will warm it up, before eating.

That is one of the nice things about this recipe. This soup is good, what ever temperature you serve it.

It is also a pretty soup. The color is so beautiful. A friend came over and I offered her a bowl. When I set it down in front of her she said, “Wow, this is really pink soup.”

People seem to have strong opinions about beets. They either love them or hate them. I love them and I enjoy them in soups, salads, relishes,  casseroles and more. The earthy flavor really appeals to me and the color is a delightful bonus. I added some extra veggies for more flavor and sour cream for a tart, creamy flavor and texture element. The result was a very tasty dish that is also sort of striking to look at.

 

 

Hot or Cold Beet Soup

6 or 7 small beets – or 3 large beets

2 T. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

6 cups stock- I used chicken but vegetable stock or beef stock would also work

2 t. dill weed

salt and pepper to taste

1 c. sour cream- or a little more if you like

Cut beets off of their stems- leaving about 2 inches attached- this will reduce bleeding and retain more color in the beets.  Place beets in a pot of water deep enough to cover them and cook until the beets are just getting tender, about 20 minutes – longer for larger beets. Remove and place in cold water. Once the beets are cool enough to handle trim off the stems and slip off the skins. Cut the beets into chunks and set aside. In soup pot heat the oil and cook the onion until tender. Add the carrots and beets and cook a few minutes longer. Add the rest of the vegetables, stock, dill and simmer, covered, until vegetables are very tender. This will take at least 30 minutes- but cooking longer is better- around an hour.  Puree the soup. To add the sour cream place sour cream in a bowl and add a ladle full of the hot soup to the sour cream, whisking until smooth. Add another ladle or two of the soup and whisk again. Return sour cream mixture to the soup. By warming the sour cream gently you prevent it curdling. Adjust seasonings and serve right away, or refrigerate and serve cold.  Serves 6-8. Freezes well.

 

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Roasted Beet Salad

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Roasted Beet Salad

I got a great number of beets a couple of days ago.  I will be canning many over the weekend, but I also want to enjoy them fresh. Decided to roast some beets and then go from there. To roast beets: just wash them and trim off the greens- leaving about an inch of the stems to reduce bleeding.

My beets don’t have their greens, but trim off, if they do. The beet greens could be added to the salad.

Place beets in a roasting pan and drizzle with a little oil. I used avocado oil. Cover pan and place in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Smaller beets will be cooked in less time- about 35 minutes. Really large beets could take up to an hour. I always check by poking one of the beets with a fork. Let the beets cool a little and then remove the peels. I use a knife to do this. They come off quite easily.

I used three small beets to make this salad for lunch. I shared it with a neighbor.

Roasted Beet Salad

1 small head Bibb lettuce, washed and sliced into thin slices

2 c. spinach, torn into bite sized pieces

1/4 c. olive oil

3 T. red wine vinegar

2 t. sugar, optional

3 small roasted beets, peeled

1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese

1/4 c. hulled pumpkin seeds, toasted

1/4 c. dried cherries

coarse sea salt- I used pink salt

Place lettuce in a mixing bowl. Combine olive oil with vinegar and sugar, if using. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss over the greens. Slice beets. Divide greens on 2 salad plates. Arrange half of the beets on each salad and top with the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle with a few grains of the sea salt and serve. Makes 2 luncheon salads.

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My Favorite Apple Cake

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My Favorite Apple Cake

I have posted this cake recipe in the past. It truly is my favorite apple cake ever.  I had a request for this recipe yesterday, so here it is.

I’ve had this recipe since I was a kid. My Aunt Josie gave it to my mom. Not sure where she got, it but it has been a family favorite since we first made it.

It’s a simple recipe that comes out moist and flavorful. I normally bake it in a 13×9- inch pan but it can be baked in a Bundt pan. While the recipe calls for cinnamon sugar- I sometimes add a little fresh ground nutmeg, too. I also like to use olive oil or even avocado oil in this cake. It gives it a really nice flavor.

Almost any apple works in this recipe- except maybe Red Delicious. Perfect for dessert or even served with brunch.  Who am I kidding? I would eat this cake for breakfast.

Note: The batter is really thick. Don’t think you’ve done something wrong.

 

Classic Apple Cake

1 c. oil, I use olive oil
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1/3 c. orange or lemon juice
Combine above ingredients and set aside.
Mix together the following dry ingredients. Make a well and stir in egg mixture to make a stiff batter.

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
3 t. baking powder
¼ t. salt

Mix ½ c. sugar and 2 t. cinnamon and set aside

Peel, core and slice 4 medium apples.
Grease a 9×13 inch pan or a Bundt pan. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Place ½ of batter in prepared pan. Arrange apple slices on batter and sprinkle on ½ of the cinnamon mixture. Pour on remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

Bake 1-1 ½ hours. One hour for 13×9-inch pan and 1 1/2 hours for Bundt. I find that sometimes it takes less than an hour- check at 50 minutes.

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Homemade Caramel Apples

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Caramel Apple

I did a program with kids earlier this week and we made these caramel apples. The kids loved them and I wanted to share the recipe. Making caramel apples is a wonderful childhood memory for me. Every Autumn, we would make a batch.

We used those little store bought caramels. I was often the one tasked with unwrapping them. I can remember unwrapping one after the other.

I wanted to make my own caramel, so that is what I did with the kids. It is so much better than the store bought version.

Caramel is not that hard to make. You do need to keep an eye on it. Stir constantly. Just a hint, be sure your candy thermometer is really secure. Mine was a little slippy on the pan I was using. At one point the thermometer slid into the caramel. Not what you want to have happen!!!

Once dipped in the caramel, you can dip the bottom of the apples in nuts, pumpkin seeds, sprinkles, cereal, or even popcorn.

Homemade Caramel Apples

1/2 c. butter, cut in cubes

2 c. packed brown sugar

1 c. corn syrup

pinch of salt

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 t. vanilla

8-12 apples

chopped nuts, pumpkin seeds, cereal, sprinkles, popcorn for dipping the bottoms of the caramel apples, optional

 

In heavy saucepan combine the butter, sugar, syrup and salt. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. This will take about 10 minutes. Add milk and bring mixture up to 248 degrees. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Place a Popsicle stick, skewer or chopstick down the center of each apple. Dip apples in the caramel, allowing excess to drip off- or not. Dip bottoms of apples into nuts, seeds or whatever ingredient you picked. Place on wax paper and allow to set up. If you don’t want to dip the bottoms in anything, place the dipped apples on lightly buttered wax paper. Cool before serving. Makes 8-12 caramel apples.

Note: You could also use pears in the recipe.

The kids dipped their apples in cereal.

 

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