Chicken and Dumplings

Today it is cold for Florida. What to make? Aha! I think I'll make chicken and dumplings.

I make it different ways. I don't have  a can of frozen biscuits or a crockpot. I gave it away. So, I will have to make it on the stove from scratch.

• 4 c chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 6 boneless chicken tenders
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 celery, diced 
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 onion diced finely
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 1 t thyme
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1/2 c water
• 1/4 c flour
• 1/2 c frozen peas

1. Place chicken broth, water, chicken tenders in a large pot. Bring to a boil, and cook chicken about 15 mintues.
2.  While chicken is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add celery, carrots, and onion. Saute until vegetables are tender.
3. Remove chicken and shred it. Set the chicken aside.
4. Add the vegetables with salt, pepper and thyme. Stir and bring broth to a simmer.
5. In a small bowl, stir the water and flour together. Slowly pour the mixture into the broth and vegetables until  combined all the while whisking.
6. Add the peas and chicken to the pot and stir for 1 minute
7. Now its time to make the dumplings.

For the Dumplings

• 1 c flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t thyme
• 1/2 c sour cream
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 T canola oil

• To make the dumplings, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and thyme in a medium bowl. In another bowl, stir together the sour cream, milk, and vegetable oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
• Heat the soup to boiling and drop teaspoons of the dumpling dough on top of the soup in a single layer.
• When they are done, stir the soup gently to break up the dumplings. Serve hot.

Pecan pie in a crockpot. Unbelievable!

Last month we went to go visit our friends Terry and Amelia. While there Amelia surprised me with making a pecan pie out of a crockpot. I just could not believe this could be done. So I watched her do it and was astounded. This is a great idea if you don't have the time to keep an eye on a pie while it is baking.

• 1 crockpot
• 1 c pecans broken up
• 1-2 uncooked piecrust depending on shape and size of crockpot
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 c dark karo syrup
• 1/2 c melted butter
• 1 t vanilla

1. Spray crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. 
2. Roll out pie crust. Place uncooked piec rust on bottom of crockpot and a 1/2 " up the sides. If your crock pot is large or oblong you will need 2 pie crusts to overlap and fit on the bottom.  
3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl.
4. Pour on top of pie crust
5. Cover and cook on high for 2  - 3 hours depending how hot your crockpot gets.

Chocolate pie with coconut crust

I love chocolate. With that being said, I wanted to make a chocolate pie but didn't have any extra pie crusts left. I also didn't feel like making a pie crust, so I searched pinterest for other options. I came across this idea of using coconut for the crust. I have an abundance of coconut hanging around the house.

Crust

4 T butter softened
6 cups of shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven 350
2. Place butter and 1/3 of the coconut in a food processor until it forms a ball. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the remaining coconut and combine using your fingers. 
4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place 9" pie plate on the cookie sheet. Press the coconut into the plate on the bottom and up the sides evenly distributing the coconut.
5. Cover the edges of the crust with tin foil to keep from browning too fast.
6. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until center begins to brown.
7. Remove tin foil and bake for 5 minutes more. Keep an eye on it to prevent over browning.
8. Cool on wire racks.

Filling

1 chocolate instant pudding mix

milk

1. Follow directions on package to make filling for a pie. It is usually found on the flap of the box. Do not confuse this with making regular pudding. You will use less milk for a filling as opposed to making pudding. 
2. Pour over the coconut crust.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until filling is set.

Chimichurra sauce

Over the Christmas holidays our family went to a Cuban restaurant in  Mount Dora. The food was fantastic. I was most impressed with the chimichurra sauce which I had never had. I love garlic and basil, so once I tasted this I had to find a recipe to make it. It calls for shallots which I have  never bought or used before. I do not like the taste of cilantro, so I omitted it.
 I love this green sauce and use it every day. It was served with steak at the cuban restaurant. It can also be put on bread like a pesto.

 Chimichurri Sauce

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
3 medium garlic cloves, peeled
2 medium shallots, peeled

1 cup fresh basil, packed 
1 cup fresh cilantro, packed (I omitted this because i do not like the taste)
½ cup fresh mint leaves, packed 
½ cup fresh parsley, packed 
½ cup extra virgin olive oil 
½ teaspoon sea salt 
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
a pinch of dried crushed red pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree until combined and fairly smooth. Leave just a bit of texture. Transfer to a storage container and keep cold until ready to use. Remove from refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. If serving as a dip, drizzle with a bit of olive oil.

Tourtiere Pie

I was born in Maine but my grandparents came from Montreal and Quebec. One thing I remember very clearly at Christmas time was the tourtiere pies that my grandmothers would make. My grandmother was a sweet and very comedic lady. There are countless stories of her trying to get a laugh out of many of her friends and family members through her zany antics, facial expressions and practical jokes.

A tourtiere is a meat pie made famous by the Canadians. It is traditionally served at Christmas time and is made with ground pork, but since we do not eat pork I use ground beef and ground turkey combined. The other unique thing about this meat pie is the use of cinnamon, cloves and allspice as the seasonings. We serve it with a sweet relish. 

Meat Pie (Tourtiere)

1 1/2 pounds ground beef and ground turkey combined
1 large baking potato
1 large onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 dash ground allspice
1/2 cup water
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust deep dish pie
1 egg

1. Bake the potato until done, 30 - 45 minutes in a preheated 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) oven. Peel and mash the potato.

2. Place the potato, ground beef and turkey, onion, spices and water in a large frying pan and simmer until very thick, for about one hour.

3. Meanwhile, prepare your pastry or use a store bought one. Use cookie cutters to cut out designs if desired.

4. Line a deep-dish pie plate with pastry. Spoon in filling, spreading evenly. Cover with top crust.

5. Brush with beaten egg.

6. Bake for 50 minutes at 350.

Honey lollipops

           I like to drink tea every day and I love to add honey instead of sugar. I wanted to try my hand at making honey lollipops that i could put in my tea cup. Sometimes honey is a little messy especially when on the road. I can't tell  you how many times I have dumped my tea over trying to pull out the honey from a honey stick.  So, I read up today on how to make lollipops and cough drops. I also wanted to try to make my own mold. I had seen on  pinterest honey lollipops that were shaped like teaspoons.

• 1/2 - 1 Cups Organic Honey 
• Candy Thermometer 
• Lollipop Sticks
• Lollipop Molds 

If you are using clear plastic molds, grease them before pouring honey into them. Place lollipop sticks in the slots. For some reason when i put the sticks in the mold they would not stay level, so I placed thin books on each side of the mold to help the sticks stay level instead of tilted.

Heat the honey in  saucepan on low heat up to 300 degrees. Use a candy thermometer to keep an eye on the temp.  You do not want to burn the  honey. On my stove it took a long time to get up to 300. Remove from heat. I transferred the honey to a measuring cup so I could control the pouring aspect since my hands can get a little shaky. Pour slowly into molds.
I also used a silicon ice cube tray to make cough drops.

Traveling on a plane with honey is a little problematic. I made my own tea bag wallet. I then came up with the idea to put honey sticks in the wallet along with a pair of scissors and a tiny spoon.

this is the inside of the wallet. I have a great love for linen. I have made this wallet in regular fabric and they are just as beautiful in shabby chic colors.

this is the outside and is is opened from the side.

diy garlic infused oil

       

A couple of months ago my husband and I went to Georgia to see our son, Joshua and his wife Anne. While we were there we went to the town Helen. It was a quaint little German  town with lots of interesting stores. There was one store there that I had never seen before called the Olive  Oil Company. I was impressed with all the different flavors of olive oils and vinegars. We ended up trying a bazillion flavors and bought a gift pack with several different flavors. I didn't know we had one close to us in Mount Dora. What a surprise.
              I love the garlic oil and wanted to try my hand at making my own garlic oil.

Here is the recipe and link to it that I used.

http://www.justputzing.com/2011/12/diy-infused-olive-oils.html

Garlic-Infused Olive Oil

• ½ to ¾ cup whole, peeled garlic cloves * 
• Juice from ¼ lime 
• 1 to 2 cups extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 4-oz glass bottle with cork 

To make the garlic-infused olive oil:

1. Put the cloves in a bowl with the lime juice. Stir and let sit for 15 minutes. 
2. Preheat oven to 325 F. 
3. Reserving the juice for later, drain the lime juice from the cloves. 
4. Spread out the garlic cloves in one layer in a small baking dish. 
5. Pour enough olive oil over the garlic so that the cloves are completely immersed. 
6. Roast in a hot oven for 30-45 minutes. 
7. Remove from the oven and let cool. Cloves will darken as they cool. Scoop the cloves from the oil into a bowl using a slotted spoon. 
8. Pour the reserved lime juice over the cloves with ½ cup your oil and stir to combine. 
9. Pack garlic cloves in an airtight container. Pour enough of the oil over the roasted cloves to cover. Refrigerate until you need to use roasted garlic in other recipes. (I like it smeared on bread) 
10. Strain the remaining oil into your (clean, sterilized) glass bottle and use as garlic infused olive oil.

Chocolate strawberry cake

This by far is my favorite cake to eat. I love chocolate covered strawberries. I  think they are magnificent. I first made this cake for my Dad for Father's Day 3 years ago and ever since I make it 2 or 3 times a year for special friends for their birthdays. This year I wanted to make it for a lady who works at Joanns who sold me my viking embroidery machine last April. I have had to go back to see her multiple times with different machine problems and she has faithfully and kindly worked with me every time through my exasperation. After  8 months of revisiting her the machine is working well. I thought about sewing her something with my machine as a christmas gift, but then thought of this cake knowing she likes chocolate. It is fairly simple to make and when using the piroulines on the side of the cake it is a great cover up for messy or failed frosting.

• 1   10 inch cake board covered in fanci foil
• 1     8 thin cake board
• Turntable
• Angled spatula for frosting
• Red ribbon 

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

• 1 quart strawberries, washed and dried
• 1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 T coconut oil 
• Toothpicks
• Wax paper

1. Wash and dry strawberries. Pierce each strawberry from the top with a toothpick and set aside
2. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment paper
3. Fill bottom of double boiler halfway with water. Bring to a simmering boil.  Turn down to medium heat.
4. Melt chocolate and coconut oil on the top layer of  double boiler. 
5. Stir constantly until all the chips melt and the chocolate is smooth
6. Transfer chocolate to a  coffee mug
7. Quickly dip each strawberry halfway into the chocolate. Gently rotate the strawberry allowing the access chocolate to dribble off back into the mug. 
8. Place dipped strawberry onto cookie sheet. Repeat for all strawberries. 
9. If chocolate starts to stiffen up return to double boiler to smooth again being careful not to burn it. Constantly stir the chocolate to keep it from sticking and clumping.
10. When all strawberries are dipped you can either put them in the fridge or the freezer until ready to place on top of cake right before eating. If you leave the strawberries on top of the cake too long they will start to ooze on the cake.

One bowl buttercream chocolate frosting

• 6 T butter softened
• 2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 c Hersheys cocoa
• 1/3 c milk
• 1 t vanilla extract

1. Beat butter in medium bowl.
2. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk. Beat until smooth for spreading
3. Stir in vanilla.
4. Makes about 2 cups of frosting

For the Cake

2 chocolate cake box mix
3 boxes piroulines
3    8" round cake pans

•  Using 3 8 inch round pans, bake cake according to box directions.
•  Cool cakes on wire racks for 10 minutes before removing from pans.. When cakes have completely cooled down, level the cakes if they are uneven.

Assembling the Cake

•  Place a  10 inch  covered cake board on cake turntable for easy frosting.Spread a little frosting on the 8 inch cake board and center on top of 10 inch cake board. Place bottom layer of cake on top of 8 inch cake board.. Frost the top of the bottom layer. Center next layer on top of that and repeat with frosting on top. Repeat again with final layer of cake making sure the bottom of the layer in on top for a nice smooth finish. 
•  Frost entire cake. 
• Open up packages of piroulines. Measure one pirouline by standing by the side of the cake and making sure it is about a half inch higher than the cake. Using a knife gently saw off  unwanted length being careful not to crush the pirouline.  At this point you can cut all the piroulines the same length or do them one by one. Place the first pirouline against the frosting on the side of the cake. The frosting will help the piroulines stick and stay to the cake. Place the second pirouline right next to it. Continue around cake until meeting back at starting point.
• Cut a ribbon long enough to go around cake and enough to tie a pretty bow. I used a red organza ribbon. The ribbon will help the piroulines stay in place and not shift when moving the cake.

When ready to present cake and serve cake

• Place strawberries around the cake on silver cake board.
• Using wax paper, cut a circle a little smaller than the circumference of the cake
• Place the wax paper carefully on top of cake.
• Place the remainder of the strawberries on top of the cake.