Blueberry Crumb Cake
This has always been a favorite cake of mine. The mixture of moist cake and berries would be great on their own, but that crunchy, crumb topping- oh my! Talk about a wonderful combination.
It isn’t a difficult cake to make at all. It is an extra nice cake to take along to picnics and cook outs since there is no frosting to worry about. It can be served plain, or served with a scoop of ice cream of some whipped cream.
So here is the recipe. Enjoy!!
Blueberry Crumb Cake
For cake batter:
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
½ stick (¼ cup) butter, softened
¾ c. sugar
1 egg
½ c. milk
1 pint blueberries, fresh or frozen
For topping:
½ c. sugar
¼ c. flour
½ t. cinnamon
½ stick (¼ c. butter, chilled and cut into bits)
Combine dry ingredients and set aside. In mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and milk. Add flour mixture gradually until just mixed in. Fold in blueberries. Grease and flour an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan and add prepared batter. Combine topping ingredients until they resemble coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter in pan and bake in a preheated 375-degree oven and bake for 35-45 minutes. Use toothpick to test.
Note: I have used a 9-inch round pan and it worked fine.
Strawberry “Pink” Lemonade
I love this “pink” lemonade. The lovely blush comes from strawberries, not artificial color. The strawberries add more than just color- they add their wonderful flavor as well.
This is a great drink for hot summer days. Heck, I think its a good drink anytime. You don’t have limit yourself to lemonade. I made a pink limeade, which is also very tasty. We had it at a picnic with friends.
The strawberry seeds will settle to the bottom of the pitcher- so be careful when pouring out the last bit of lemonade. No one wants a mouth full of seeds.
This lemonade can also be used as a base for cocktails.
Here is the recipe. I have also included some helpful information when buying strawberries.
Strawberry Lemonade
7 c. water
1¼ c. sugar
1¼ c. lemon juice
2-3 c. fresh strawberries, washed and stemmed
In a pitcher, combine water with sugar and lemon juice and stir until sugar dissolves. Place berries in blender and add about 2 cups of the lemonade. Process until strawberries are pureed. Add strawberry mixture to the remaining lemonade. Chill before serving. Serve over ice, garnishing with whole berries, if desired. Watch as seeds will accumulate on the bottom of the pitcher.
Shopping Tip
When berries are priced by weight or volume it is not always easy to decide which is the best price. If one store has quarts for $2 and another had berries for $2 per pound where would you get the better deal? Also, if a recipes calls for 4 cups sliced berries how many do you need to buy? Here are some approximate guidelines.
3/4 lb. = 1 full pint
1 1/2 lbs. = 1 full quart
1 1/2 lbs. = 4 cups sliced
1 lb. frozen = 1 1/3 c. whole berries
To help your berries last longer soak them in a water/vinegar solution for a few minutes as soon as you get them home. Then just drain and put in the fridge. This will keep them from getting mold as quickly. I use 1/2 cup of vinegar and 4 cups of water.
Mom’s Macaroni Salad
I’ve been in a nostalgic mood this week. Remembering, fondly, the picnics and cookouts from my childhood. For summer cookouts, we always had this salad. Long enough ago that it was called macaroni salad, not pasta salad. I loved it then, and I love it now.
I won’t say I don’t make other pasta salads. I do. I make all sorts of combinations, but this is the salad that brings me home.
Mom used mostly mayo, with a little salad dressing like Spin Blend. She felt it gave the salad just a little more zing. I use straight mayo, but that part of the recipe is flexible.
She added quite a few hard cooked eggs and I think they add a richness to the dish. My dad would cut up the celery and green onions for her. Mom liked the veggies cut into a fairly small dice in this dish, and Dad had great knife skills. I love the image of them cooking together.
So here it is- a family recipe wrapped up nicely with some memories, too.
Mom’s Macaroni Salad
1 lb. uncooked pasta, shells are preferred
Salt and pepper
Mayonnaise, about 11/2 cups
3-4 ribs celery, sliced thin
4-5 green onions, trimmed and sliced thin
8-12 hard-cooked eggs, cooled and peeled
Cook pasta according to package directions, but do not overcook. Rinse with cold water and drain well. Place drained pasta in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Add mayo and vegetables and stir until well mixed. You may want to add more dressing to suit your taste. Chop eggs and stir into salad. Adjust seasonings if needed and chill before serving. Serves 8-10.
Sous Vide Ribs
I have this fun kitchen machine called an immersion circulator, also known as a sous vide immersion circulator. They are used to cook food at very exact temperatures. It is a kitchen tool that is becoming more popular, but still unknown to a lot of people. They can be expensive, although prices seem to be coming down as more models hit the market. The one I have costs around $200, but you can find them for a lot less these days.
So why would you want to use/invest in one and how exactly is the food cooked?
Sous vide involves cooking your food in a bag, submerged in water. I know that doesn’t initially sound all that appealing, but it is pretty cool and has some advantages.
Have you ever fretted about overcooking a really expensive cut of meat? Or do you have trouble with the ends getting too done before the middle is cooked?
In an immersion circulator, you set the temperature that the water will be. If you like medium rare beef, you would set the temp at around 135 degrees F (57 Celsius). That means the water would maintain a temp of 135 degrees. When you put the meat in the circulator it can’t overcook. It will only get to a max of 135 degrees, or whatever temperature you like. The meat can’t overcook, even if you leave it in for several hours. It also will be cooked the same from one end the the other. This gives you the opportunity to cook less expensive cuts of meats for long periods, making them tender, but still rare. The leg of lamb we had for Easter was wonderful. When a guest was delayed, I didn’t have to worry about it getting overdone, either.
The sous vide machine is attached to a pot that is filled with water. Once you set it to the temperature you want, you place the bag with the meat in it, in the water. Set the timer and let the circulator do its job. You can also buy machines that are self contained. Check water levels once in awhile, but they don’t go down very much, even after long cooks.
One disadvantage is that the meat will not get that nice sear on the outside that comes from more traditional methods of cooking. To remedy that, you remove the meat from the bag, once it has cooked, and brown it then. I like to use a smoking hot skillet for this. You brown the meat over high heat, turning it until it looks the way you want it to look. This actually worked great for the ribs. You could also place the meat under the boiler for a few minutes or even on a hot grill. You can also sear rthe meat first, then put it in the bag and sous vide.
Another slight disadvantage, is not smelling the meat cook. Because everything is sealed up in bags, there are no yummy aromas in the house. At least, not until you open the bags to brown the meat. I have confused guests, who arrived for dinner, but smelled nothing cooking.
It is a nice way to cook in hot weather. Sous vide does not nearly generate the heat that an oven would.
Cooking the Ribs
So for my spare ribs, I wanted them to be very tender, but not mushy. I set the pork to cook at 145 degrees Fahrenheit or 60 degrees Celsius. That is the minimum safe temperature for pork. You can cook it at a slightly higher temperature- but not lower. I seasoned the meat with salt and my Ethiopian seasoning. I used a freezer Ziploc bag. I made sure I got as much air out of the bag as I could, and made sure it was sealed. I then double bagged the ribs, to be safe. Using a vacuum sealer or pump will help remove more air. Nice, but not a must.
I cooked my ribs for 12 hours the first time I made them. I have cooked them for as long as 24 hours. There is a lot of leeway for how long you have to sous vide meat. Tougher cuts should be cooked longer, to make them more tender. The 12 hour ribs were very tender, but the 24 hour ribs were better. Once the time was up, I took the ribs out, heated up my skillet, and browned the ribs on both sides. This is when you can add sauce, if you like. I added a sweet and sour sauce to this batch. They were tender and very juicy.
Unlike poaching, the meat is never in contact with the water, so all the flavor stays in the meat. Because you have such precise control, you don’t end up with overcooked meat, either.
There are videos all over the internet that discuss and share sous vide cooking as well as groups on Facebook. I am still learning and don’t consider myself an expert. I just wanted to try cooking my ribs this way. I was very happy with the result. I can’t say whether an immersion circulator is a good investment for you or not. I will say that I love mine and am using it several times a week.
Picnic Mini Quiches
These tiny quiches pack a lot of flavor. They are also a great take along for picnics and cook outs. Since you can eat them hot or cold, they make a nice food for road trips, too.
The quiche recipe is made up of three parts- the crust, the filling and the custard. They are baked in muffins tins and each recipe makes a dozen. I have two crust recipes- including a gluten free crust that is made from rice and zucchini. There are three filling choices, but you can get creative and make a number of different variations. The custard is pretty straightforward- half and half, eggs and seasonings. I make a couple of batches at a time and then freeze some for later.
Picnic Quiches
Crust Options:
Rice Zucchini Crust (Gluten free)
1½ c. shredded zucchini
1¼ c. cooked rice (white or brown)
1 egg
¼ c. Parmesan cheese
Crouton Crust
3½ c. garlic-cheese croutons, about 5 oz., ground
1/3 c. melted butter
Fillings:
Mushroom and Onion
1 medium onion, chopped
Oil
8 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
3-4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded or cubed fine
In skillet cook onion in oil until lightly browned. Add mushroom and cook until mushrooms are golden. Cool and combine with cheese before using.
Spinach and Bacon
12 oz. bacon, cooked and crumbled
10 oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded
Combine all ingredients. Set aside until ready to use.
Confetti
1 ear corn, cooked and kernel cut off the cob- about ½ cup
½ c. mined fresh sweet pepper
¼ c. chopped green onion
4 oz. shredded cheese- I like a sharp cheddar in this filling
Custard:
1c. half and half
3 eggs
½ t. each basil and salt
1/8 t. each garlic powder, pepper and paprika
Directions
Grease 12 muffin cups (3 inch). Prepare crust of your choice by mixing crust ingredients together. Pat 2 tablespoons of the crust mixture into each muffin cup. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Cool before filling. While baking and cooling crusts, prepare filling of your choice and make the custard.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of filling over each cooled crust. Spoon about 3-4 tablespoons of the custard over the filling. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Cool on wire racks, chill completely before packing for your picnic.
New Day Cleveland – Rainbow Salad
Thanks to David Moss and the rest of the crew at New Day Cleveland for another fun time. Here is my latest appearance.
https://fox8.com/video/new-day-cleveland-the-charmed-kitchen/8679585/
Homemade Pasta
Homemade pasta is so much fun to make and the flavor is worth the extra effort. I taught a pasta making class last night. Everyone had a great time. We made several different veggie based pastas, including spinach, carrot and beet. The recipe is pretty simple. Cooked veggies and flour.
We combined the ingredients in a food processor, then let the dough rest before rolling. Once you are ready to roll out your pasta, the shape is up to you. You can hand roll the pasta, and cut into noodles. We used pasta makers to roll the dough, and then a cutting attachment for the angel hair pasta and linguine. Some dough was also used to make cheese stuffed ravioli, or combined with other pasta dough for more of a rainbow pasta.
We also had some egg based pasta dough.
Directions for mixing the dough is all the same- combine ingredients in a food processor and mix until dough forms into a ball. Allow to rest, covered, for 20 minutes, before rolling.
To cook fresh pasta, noodles are cooked in boiling, salted water for 1-2 minutes. Ravioli are cooked in boiling water for 3-5 minutes.
Mixed veggie pasta, ready to be cut
Spinach angel hair
Carrot and Spinach Ravioli
Parsley Linguine
Carrot Pasta
1 c. flour
1/3 c. cooked carrots
1-2 T. water, if needed
Beet Pasta
1 c. flour
1/3 c. cooked beets
1-2 T. water, if needed
Spinach Pasta
2 c. flour
1 10 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed, drained, reserving some of the liquid
Mix this dough as for other pastas, but don’t be too quick to add reserved liquid. While processing, you’ll get water out of the spinach. May require more kneading and rolling than other pasta dough. Be patient, it’s worth the work.
Parsley Pasta
1 c. flour
3 t. chopped fresh parsley
1 egg
1 T. oil, (optional)
2-4 T. water, if needed
Basic Pasta Dough
1 c. flour
1 egg
1 T. olive oil
1 T. water, if needed
Four Cheese Ravioli Filling
3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
15 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese
8 oz. cream cheese
5 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill until ready to use. This will fill dozens and dozens of ravioli. Extra filling can be frozen and used another time.
More pictures from last night
Cream Scones
I must admit that for me, the difference between a scone and a biscuit is sometimes hard to see. Both use the same ingredients, for the most part. They can be rolled and cut out the same way, too. I often say that scones are like biscuits, but with more stuff in them. Scones are often sweeter, too.
This recipe is a tough call for me. I was given the recipe by a friend a long time ago. She called them Cream Scones. I could easily see calling them Cream Biscuits, instead. Whatever you call them, these little gems are tender, flaky and super easy to make. You can make variations with all sorts add ins. I recently made some with mini chocolate chips and orange zest. They also are great for shortcakes!!
Cream Scones
2 c. flour
1 T. sugar
½ t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1 c. heavy cream
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add cream to form soft dough. Knead lightly on a floured board until dough sticks together. Roll to ½ – ¾ –inch thickness and cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter. Re-roll scraps and continue cutting, handling dough as little as possible.* Place on baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Makes 8-10.
* Instead of rolling them out and cutting into rounds, I pressed the dough into an 8-inch square. I cut the square into 4 smaller squares. I then cut and “x” across each of the four squares, making 4 triangles (16 in all). Bake as directed above.
Here is the cut out version made in class last week
Mushroom Pastries/Empanadas
I made a batch of these the other night. I always called them mushroom pastries, but thought empanadas might be a better name for them. They are very tasty, whatever you call them. The filling is a combination of mushrooms with onions, thyme and sour cream. The pastry is a tender, flaky dough.
They are a fun food to take with you. Portable enough for picnics!!
They make great appetizers or can be served as a meal, maybe with a salad. Fun for parties, brunch or lunch!
Mushroom Pastries/Empanadas
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese and 1 cup of butter until well blended. Mix in the flour until fully incorporated. Pat into a ball, and refrigerate while you make the filling. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms and onion. Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over everything so it won’t get lumpy, then reduce the heat to low, and stir in the sour cream. Heat just until thickened, then remove from the heat. Cool filling. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into 3 inch rounds. Place a small amount of the mushroom mixture on one side of each circle, then fold the dough over and press to seal. Prick the tops with a fork to vent steam, and place the pastries on a baking sheet. (They can also be frozen at this time until needed.) Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. If baking frozen turnovers, it may take an additional 5 minutes.
Rainbow Salad
When you hear green or yellow split peas- do you think of soup? You probably do. But when cooked until just tender, split peas make a great salad ingredient. I often just add some cooked split peas to a tossed salad. They add flavor, protein and a nice texture to salads. An added bonus is that split peas can be cooked from dry to tender in about 20 minutes. That makes them a great choice when time is tight.
This is one of my favorite salads using both green and yellow split peas. Fresh and colorful, it is a big hit with vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends. If some of you are looking for new meatless meals ideas, this one is a winner.
The salad uses both green and yellow split peas, along with black beans, butter beans, red lentils and assorted veggies. It is a great combination of colors and textures. It does make a lot, but you can easily cut the recipe in half.
The dish was inspired by my nephew Danny’s love of sand art when he was a kid. The ingredients are layered in the bowl for a pretty presentation. It is also an homage to the layered salads I remember from my youth. I like this one a whole lot more.
Rainbow Salad
1 c. each green split peas, yellow split peas and red lentils
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained
1 c. diced sweet onion
1 c. diced sweet pepper
1 c. grated carrot
Cook split peas and lentils separately just until tender. Split peas, both green and yellow will take 20 minutes. Red lentils will take about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse each under cold water when done and set aside until ready to use, or you can cook them a day ahead and keep chilled. Each will yield about 2 1/2 c. cooked.
In large glass bowl, place the following ingredients in this order.
Black beans, butter beans, green split peas. yellow split peas. onion, red lentils. carrots and peppers. Pour over dressing and chill several hours or overnight. Serve on a bed of greens. You can also leave the salad plain and serve dressing on the side.
Dressing *
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. vinegar, I like apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2-3 T. sugar
1/2 c. parsley or cilantro
1 t. each chili powder, cumin and salt
dash hot sauce
Combine in a blender or food processor until smooth.
*Note: Any fresh or bottled dressing you like can be used. Balsamic works very well. I often serve it with homemade Italian dressing.
