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It’s getting well into apple season and they’re showing up in the stores all over the place. While I think most people like apples, it doesn’t take long after buying that large bag of ‘em before you start wondering what else you can do with ‘em besides eat them straight.
Apple coffee cake to the rescue!
Start out by pre-heating the oven to 375°F. Then Grease a 9-inch square baking dish or pie pan that can hold 4 cups (I’m guessing a 10 or 12 inch pie pan ought to do.)
Sift a cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and a half teaspoon of salt.
Combine 1/3 cup of sugar with a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and set it aside for the time being.
Cream the butter with 1/3 cup of sugar. When it’s good and smooth, beat in 1 egg until that’s well blended. Next, add the flour mixture a third at a time, alternating with a half cup of milk, beating the mixture until it’s just combined.
Spread half of the batter in the baking dish (or large pie pan). Peel and slice a medium baking apple and lay the slices on top of the batter so they just cover it. Some slices may overlap but that’s ok.
Sprinkle the apples with half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Spread the rest of the batter over the apples. Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon-sugar mix on top.
Bake for 25 minutes or until it’s golden brown and apples start to bubble around the edges.
A variation is to use a mixture of brown sugar and butter for the topping instead of the cinnamon sugar.
Technorati Tags: sugar, apple cake, cinnamon, apple coffee cake, apples, recipe, coffee cake
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Posted on 28th October 2008
Under: Odds & Ends, Recipies, Seasonal, Snacks, baking | Comments Off
It’s getting colder out and that brings on more thoughts of baking things if only just to have an excuse to start the oven. Never mind the fact that doing so often means baking and baking means assorted goodies for all. Next thing you know you’re wishing you’d bought the ingredients in bulk at one of those wholesale places.
Anyway, this recipe for pumpkin crunch custard is a dessert recipe that’s just made for the job. Not only do you get to crank up the oven for around 45 minutes or so but when it’s all done you’ve got a great snack to munch on. Preheat the oven to 325 and let’s get started.
For the custart part, beat 3 large eggs and then add a can of pumpkin, a can of evaporated milk, 3/4 cup of brown sugar (packed) 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and a teaspoon of vanilla and mix until it’s all blended well.
To make the crunch topping, add 3 tablespoons brown sugar(packed), 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. Add 4 teaspoons butter cut into small pieces and cut it in with a fork (or pastry blender) until it resembles coarse crumbs and then stir in 1/3 cup of chopped pecans.
Pour the custard mixture into an ungreased 2 quart baking dish and bake for 45 minutes or until the sides begin to set. At that point, remove the custard from the oven and sprinkle with the topping mix. Bake another 35 to 40 minutes or until it passes the knife test. Cool on a wire rake and searve warm or at room temperature. It’ll keep in the refrigerator 5 days but you’ll probably not have it around that long.
Technorati Tags: pumpkin dessert, recipe, pumkin crunch custard, custard, pumpkin recipe
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Posted on 25th October 2008
Under: Desserts, Recipies, Seasonal, Snacks, baking | Comments Off
I have, over the years, had a lot of great sandwiches from Subway. Generally speaking their stuff is pretty good (even if a bit pricey) and it’s been consistent for years. Then in recent months we’ve had occasion to revisit a local Subway after a pretty long dry spell in between and There’s something that my wife noticed right away that I still can’t figure out.
They now make their sandwiches upside-down.
That’s right. The sandwiches are still great, made to order and so on. They’re just upside down. The meat items are now placed on the “top” half of the bread and the “toppings” are now placed on the bottom. We asked the person making the sandwich why they were doing it that way and they could only shrug and say that was the way they were told to make them. Which is what bugs me.
You see, Subway has always made a big deal about how their people have to be trained in detail how to make the sandwiches. In fact, the sandwich makers are called “Sandwich Artists”. Given their specialty, I’d think that Subway would get the construction order right. I mean, they’re called “Toppings” for a reason, they go on top.
I realize that a lot of people will say that it doesn’t really matter, so long as all the right stuff is on the thing and to a point they’re right. However, when I get out a sandwich and unwrap it, I expect the “Toppings” to be on the “Top” of the sandwich. When it’s not built right, there is a much higher chance of the meats, toppings, or condiments managing to escape the confines of the bread, making a mess.
So I’ll ask that any Subway employees who read this please pass this on to the higher ups. Sandwiches are supposed to be built a certain way. If they’re not, they cease to be sandwiches and turn into messes waiting to happen.
Technorati Tags: sandwiches, sandwich making, messes, subway, sandwich mess
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Posted on 22nd October 2008
Under: Eating Out, Food Prep, From The Cook, Odds & Ends, Sandwiches, kitchen talk | 2 Comments »
Wings are an almost mysteriously popular part of the chicken. They’re not very big and let’s be honest, there’s not a whole lot of meat on them either. In spite of that, “Buffalo Wings” have been and continue to grow in popularity. Just for the heck of it, here’s a teriyaki variation I found on my hard drive this evening.
Make a marinade out of 1/3 cup of Lemon juice, 1/4 cup of ketchup, 1/4 cup of Soy sauce, 1/4 cup of Vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons of Brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of Garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of Pepper.
Prep 3 pounds of chicken wings by removing the wing tips and cut them at the joints. Add the Wings to the marinade and refrigerate for at least six hours, preferably overnight. You’ll also want to turn them once in a while to make sure they get a good even soaking.
In a 375 preheated oven arrange the wings in aluminum foil-lined shallow baking pan. Bake 40
to 45 minutes, basting occasionally with the marinade.
Technorati Tags: teriyaki marinade, teriaki, teriyaki wings, buffalo wings
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Posted on 21st October 2008
Under: Recipies, Seasonal, Snacks, chicken | Comments Off
It’s getting well into football season and that means all the stuff that goes with it. Specifically all the snacks and assorted traditional tailgating foods. Whether the tailgate is in the parking lot of the stadium or the your living room. Though if there’s too many people, doing it outside in some way would be a good idea just to keep somebody from tripping over the HDMI cables and nuking a new HD TV.
The wings are simple enough. Three pounds of wings with the tips cut off and cut into drummettes. Bake them in a flat pan at 350 for 25 minutes. Coat them with a bottle of Louisiana style hot sauce and cook for another 20 minutes.
The dip that traditionally goes with the wings is made up of an ounce of crumbled bleu cheese, 1/3 cup of Mayonnaise and 2 tablespoons of milk.
They’re traditionally served with the bleu cheese dip and celery sticks.
Technorati Tags: tailgating, football season, recipe, buffalo wings, bleu cheese, dip
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Posted on 20th October 2008
Under: Recipies, Seasonal, Snacks | Comments Off
There are probably as many variation of chili as there are people who make it. One thing that I’ve seen that’s pretty consistent is that those who make any variety of “Texas Chili” will almost always abide by the unwritten rule that states simply:
Texans do not put beans in chili.
Start by triming the fat from a couple pounds of stew meat. Then cut it into bite sized chunks and brown it.
Next chop up an onion, a jalapeno pepper and a couple cloves of garlic. Put everything into a pot along with two tablespoons of chili powder. Add a can of tomato sauce and then refill the can with water and add that to the pot. Add Salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer until meat is tender. The actual time will vary depending on the amount and size of the pieces of stew meat. Generally this is the kind of dish that needs to simmer for a couple of hours to allow the flavors to blend properly. You can’t hurry a good chili.
Technorati Tags: alamo chili, texas chili, recipe, chili, no beans
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Posted on 19th October 2008
Under: Dinner, Lunch, Main dishes, Recipies, chili | 1 Comment »
I’ve been told on more than one occasion that my tastes are … um … a tad unusual. Personally I don’t see it. For example whats so unusual or weird about a hot dog with tuna salad on it? It’s a fantastic combination. I believe that this breakfast is equally good and no, it didn’t come out of a collection of Mexican recipes, it’s just and old fashioned sense of “use what you got.”
It’s a simple enough sort of omlete wannabe, but very tasty. I started out as usual with an egg cracked into a bowl and add a touch of milk and a bit of shredded cheese. Then beat that together and add a bit of sauteed mushrooms.
The part that I half expect people to shake their heads at is where I sauteed some chopped onion and then added some leftover chili and let that heat through. I added that to the egg mixture and mixed thouroughly and popped it into the microwave for 4 minutes. Top it with some more shredded cheese and let that melt and bingo, one taste filled breakfast.
Technorati Tags: onion, omelet, breakfast, chili, recipe
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Posted on 18th October 2008
Under: Breakfast, From The Cook, Recipies, microwave | Comments Off
Apples aren’t something that I’ve seen a whole lot of in cakes which makes this one a bit unusual in my experience. Because of that, I’m thinking I want to try this out soon.
Start out with a standard 18 1/4oz yellow cake mix and make that up according to package directions and pour it into a greased 13 x 9 x 2 pan.
Then mix up 3 cups of sliced & peeled tart apples, a half cup of chopped walnuts, 1/4 cup of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Spoon this mixture over the cake batter and pour a cup of whipping cream over the top.
Bake at 350 for an hour or until it passes the toothpick test. It ought to be great topped with whipped cream or served with ice cream.
Technorati Tags: apples, dessert, treat, cakes, recipe
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Posted on 18th October 2008
Under: Uncategorized | Comments Off
It’s starting to get into the season for fall holiday things and one of the big traditional standbys for this time of year is pumpkin. It starts with pumpkin pie and goes on from there. It’s interesting how many things people make with Pumpkin. Recently my wife discovered a pumpkin cookie recipe that we liked at lot (good thing we liked ‘em too!)
Anyway, this pumpkin nut loaf strikes me as the natural next step from pumpkin cookies.
Mix 2 cups of all-pupose flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon and a half of pumpkin pie spice.
Beat two eggs, 1 1/4 cups pumpkin, a cup of sugar, half a can of evaporated milk (NOT to be confused with sweetened condensed milk! They’re different animals entirely.) and 2 tablespoons of oil in a larger mixer bowl until blended.
Add the flour mixture and a half cup of chopped nuts and mix just until it’s evenly moistened. Pour it into a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan and bake at 350 for about an hour or until it passes the toothpick test then remove it from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes before taking it out and putting it on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Technorati Tags: pumpkin recipe, seasonal favorite, seasonal food, pumpkin bread, pumpkin nut loaf, recipe
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Posted on 15th October 2008
Under: Bread, Holiday, Recipies, Seasonal, baking | 2 Comments »
This is one of those desserts that’s sure to go over good enough that you might consider installing security systems on your refrigerator to keep ‘em safe until it’s time to serve them.
Mix a cup of flour with a half cup of softened butter and 1/3 cup of chopped nuts. Press this into a 9 x 13 pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 350. When it’s done set it aside to cool while you get the rest of it ready.
Mix 8oz of cream cheese, a cup of confectioners’ sugar and a cup of cool whip or other whipped topping. Spread this over the cooled crust.
Next you need a couple of 3 3/4oz instant lemon pudding mixes. Make up the lemon pudding according to package directions and then pour it over the cream cheese layer and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour to set. Finish it off with a layer of your favorite cool whip-alike and then chill until you’re ready to serve.
The best security with all good desserts of course is to get ‘em made up and safely put away while nobody else is around. Then again, maybe a padlock on the fridge wouldn’t be a bad idea sometimes ‘eh?
Technorati Tags: lemon pudding, cream cheese, pudding, dessert, recipe
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Posted on 13th October 2008
Under: Desserts, Recipies, Snacks, Treats, baking | Comments Off
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