Who loves Brunswick Stew? I do?

Did you catch that question mark right there beside the I do? That is because I am not sure if I love Brunswick Stew. I know, a girl from one of the States that lays claim to creating Brunswick Stew and I am not sure I like it. And while I am clearing the air, I don't like corn sticks.

Hushpuppies? L-O-V-E!!!

Corn sticks- No way Jose!

 

So why am I posting a recipe about Brunswick Stew if I am unsure I like it? Three words- Mother-In-Law. She requested it for Sunday lunch and I obliged. And the most awesome thing is how easy it was to make.

 

The recipe is pretty simple and  crock pot friendly which just inched Brunswick Stew up a notch on the love measure.

 

 

 

1 lb of  boneless skinless chicken thighs (you can certainly use breasts but thighs stand up better the slow cooker.)
1 lb boneless pork shoulder (I used the leftover pulled pork from a pig-pickin that I had frozen. Oh Yeah!!!!)
1 large yellow onion, sliced thin

1 celery stick
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 lb potatoes- cut into 1" cubes
15 oz corn (you may use canned or frozen)
15 oz butter beans
2 cans tomato, okra, butter bean mix*
3 cups of chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

 

*In my original recipe, I had a 15 oz can of tomatoes in addition to the 2 cans of the mix. That made the stew a little to tomatoey for my taste. But it was still delicious to my M-I-L so go for it you love tomatoes.

 

 

Put tomato paste in your slower cooker crock and enough of the stock to mix. Add onion, celery, potatoes, corn, red pepper flakes, butter beans, tomato/okra/butter bean mix and remaining stock. If you are using canned corn and butter bean, drain before putting into crock. Add your pork and chicken on top of this mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put the lid on and leave it be for 4-5 hours on high or 7-8 on low.

 

 

 

 

Before you are ready to serve, scoop out chicken and pork and shred with forks and add back to the stew. But don't be surprised if  it falls apart while you try to scoop it out. That means it is perfect. Just shred it in the crock.

 

No time for pretty, I was hungry!

 

 

Serve this with corn bread and everyone will love you. And if you want to get crazy, put a piece of corn bread in your bowl and serve the stew over the corn bread. That is a bowl of something good!

It's official, I am a Brunswick Stew convert.

 

Keep it Sassy!

 

love-j

The "It`s got what in it?" Biscuits

These biscuits are light and flaky on the inside and with a little crunch on the inside. I made these yesterday and ate three right from the pan. I may have even growled as my hubby tried to take one. I make no excuses. Do not come between a Southern woman and her warm from the oven biscuits.

They also have a surprising ingredient- 7Up. Yes indeed, you read that correctly. 7Up is an ingredient in the biscuits and they are divine. What makes them even more extra special divine is how easy they are. No cold lard, cold flour etc., six simple ingredients that make biscuits worth growling over.

Here is what you need-

Preheat your oven before you begin mixing your ingredients.

2 cups cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1tsp salt
1/4 cup butter (cold and cut into small pieces.)
1/4 cup full fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup 7Up

Now before go any further, if you already have a batch of the homemade biscuit  mix on hand or even store bought, you can cut this down to 3 ingredients.

2 cups biscuit mix
1/4 cup full fat plain yogurt
1/2 cup 7Up

If using ingredient list one, mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Using two forks or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like a coarse meal.

Add the yogurt and 7Up and  mix until well combined.

Turn out onto a floured surface. I use my Silpat, it makes clean up a breeze. Roll out using a rolling pin and fold over into an 8x8" square. With a sharp knife cut into 9 equal sized squares. Grease a 9x9" pan. Place the biscuits in the pan (they may be touching) and bake until golden. 15-20 minutes. These biscuits are not large biscuits. They may even be called dainty. But the size helps with the moderation aspect since they are so easy you may make them, a lot!

Eat hot from the pan after you pull them out of the oven. Or you could do the polite thing and serve them, on a plate, at the dinner table.

Nah...

If you are using a biscuit mix, start with the: Add yogurt and 7Up and follow the rest of the steps.

A few substitutions and a few don`t dos.

All Purpose flour may be used. I prefer cake flour because it makes a more tender biscuit.

You may use sour cream but in either case do not use fat free. It needs to be the full on fat version.

You may use the lemon-lime soda of your choosing but do not use diet. It makes for bad biscuits!

If you prefer a more crumbly biscuit, think a store bought biscuit mix biscuit, increase the amount of yogurt or sour cream to 1/2 cup.

These biscuits are an easy way to keep it Sassy!

love-j

Happy New Year! A little early?

Well if we can start celebrating Christmas in October, I can celebrate New Year`s in November. Well it was`t so much New Year`s but the soup I make after our New Year`s Day lunch.

We are a soup family in the winter. My hubby loves it and thanks to the slow cooker, soup makes my life easier. And there is nothing better than on a cold, dark evening opening my door to the smell of soup simmering in the crock pot. It makes me feel like my house is giving me a big old welcome home hug. And yesterday I wanted one of those hugs in the form of New Year`s Soup.

This soup is normally made with the leftovers from our New Year`s Day lunch. In the South that consists of a pork roast, blacked peas and collards. AND the best thing of all the pot liquor from the collards. We are expecting cold weather tomorrow and I was craving this soup and knew it would be perfect for that first really cold NC day. So I decided to try it from scratch and the results were pretty tasty. There is even some left for the actual cold day!

I did forget one step - soaking the black eyed peas overnight but here is the simple fix. Put them in a pot and add enough water to cover about 1/2 an inch higher than the beans. Bring to a soft boil, once boiling turn the heat down and simmer for 10-15 minutes. This should not add extra prep time. Do this first before you start putting the soup together and your  timing will be spot on.

Here is what you need-

10 oz of fresh collards

A note about the fresh collards- They should be easy to find this time of year. I see pre-washed bags in the produce section all the time. If not, use frozen. You can use any green variety you prefer but I would avoid baby spinach. It may not surviving the long cooking time without disintegrating. If you use frozen, I do not have an exact measurement. Add as much of as you would like. However, if you can find fresh, use them. They add depth and flavor to the broth that cannot be beat!

16 oz  sausage (You may use link and slice it into links or bulk and crumble it. I prefer hot but mild or medium are perfectly fine!)
1 medium yellow onion chopped
1 tbsp oil
1cup of dry black eyed peas *sorted
1 14.5 oz can of tomatoes
1 15 oz can of corn
2 beef broth bullion cubes
3 1/2 pints stove top/ 3 pints slow cooker of water (I use a pint mason jar to measure. It`s how grandma did it and we do not question the grandma.)
Salt and pepper to taste

*Sorted means that you have sifted through the beans to make sure there are no rocks in them and that any disagreeable beans have been picked out.

You can make this on the stove top or in the slow cooker. I will be honest, the two versions do taste different from slow cooker to stove top. I find slow cooker flavors a little more muted than stove top due to the slow cooking time. A splash of lemon or vinegar helps brighten the flavor of slow cooked soups and stews. A little lemon juice (1-2 tbsp) added to this before serving and stirred in well really adds to the flavor. But this step is not necessary.

Layer your greens in the bottom of your crock. This step is EXTREMELY important. If you don`t add them first, you may have a hard time getting everything to fit.

Brown your sausage and onion in a skillet with the oil. Your sausage will render fat so the oil may seem unnecessary but it is a precaution to prevent burning. Drain. I just scoop my out with a slotted spoon letting as much fat drip as possible when time to add it to the crock.

If you soaked your beans overnight, drain them and add them to the crock if there is any remaining water. If you simmered them, add the beans and water to the crock. You may drain these as well but I like to use that liquid. If you use the simmered bean water adjust your water from 3 pints to 2 1/2.

Add the sausage and onion. The heat will help wilt  the greens making a little more room. Add the remaining ingredients to the crock. Cook of low for 7-8 hours or high for 4.

Before serving, stir the soup well to make sure everything is mixed together. I usually do this about halfway through the cooking process if I am at home, adding an additional 30 minutes of cooking time. Or if I am making this during the work week, I stir at as soon as I walk in the door and let it continue to cook before we eat at 6:30. If you stir halfway through, the ingredients may not be done and you need to add extra cooking time because removing the lid even for a few seconds brings the temperature down.

Stove top-

In a dutch oven, brown your onion and sausage. Scoop as much fat as possible out. Add your collards and remaining ingredients. Stir, put the lid on and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The stove to soup will have a thicker consistency than the crock pot soup. Even with a lid there will be some evaporation.

Serve with *biscuits to sop up the goodness and you will have a happy belly!

I serve this with 7-up biscuits which I will be posting today. My wonderful, kind taste testers said putting the biscuits in the soup made it even better. And I do what they say because they are AWESOME!

Keep it Sassy!

love-j

Sausage Balls, Sausage Balls. Wherefore art thou Sausage Balls?

If you ask my hubby what he wants for his last meal the first words out of his mouth are Sausage Balls. He asks for them all of the time but those babies are a bear to make. They are are not difficult, it`s just a big ole pain to roll those suckers. In the words of of the hubby, he is an eater not a roller. And that ladies and gentlemen is why he gets them only 3 times per year.

So, how do you solve the Sausage Ball dilemma? You make bread. Cheesy, sausagey, stick to your ribs bread. Just in case you are not familiar with sausage balls, they are raw sausage, biscuit mix and cheese mixed together, rolled into balls and baked. That is it. So how hard would it be to make bread using those same ingredients? The answer- not very! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!

The other great thing about this recipe is it is perfect for soup/salad night. It is a more dense, heavy bread. This great when you have a soup that does not call for a lot of meat or a budget that doesn't allow for it. It is also perfect for salad nights. This bread has the heft to keep you full.

1 lb sausage (I use country sausage we get from a local store in my hometown and remove it from the casings. Use your favorite bulk sausage.)
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 tsp crushed red pepper (You may certainly add more if you prefer it a little more spicy or use spicy sausage.)
2 tsp salt
2 cups of homemade biscuit mix (2 cups flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 12 tsp salt and 2 tbsp shortening or oil) or store bought if you prefer
2/3 cup of milk
1/4 cup of mayonnaise

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Crumble sausage into a large skillet and brown.

While sausage is browning, grease a 9x5 bread pan. Do not skip this step!!! And grease liberally. Since this is a heavy bread, it will stick.

Drain sausage on a paper towel and allow to cool.

In a large bowl, beat egg and add cheese, red pepper, salt. Add biscuit mix, milk and mayonnaise. Stir.

Add sausage to the mixture. Mix until blended together.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes and serve.

Sausage balls for supper! Hey this recipe got me the ummm ummm dance and hubby doesn`t pull that out for everything.

Keep it Sassy- j

Homemade Biscuit Mix

I am all about ease and convenience. With that said,  most of the time ease and convenience come at a price. Processed foods do make life so much easier but sometimes the ease is not worth it. I am not sure I want to eat stuff I cannot pronounce or that has a reputation for being bad for you. Unless it`s pie, pie I`m okay with...

I have searched for short cuts and easy tips that will keep things simple and as healthy as possible. And I promise that this biscuit mix is almost as simple as opening the box of the store bought kind. 

1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp shortening, oil or melted butter

Using a whisk, mix the dry ingredients together.

Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. If using oil (I have had great luck with olive oil) or melted butter, disperse as much as possible.

Mix well. Use the same amount as you would of the store bought biscuit mix.

I have read that this will keep for four months if stored  in a tightly sealed container in a dry place. I only make enough at a time for what I need. If you don`t feel comfortable storing it like this, you may keep it in your refrigerator.

Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie is one of my most favorite things in the whole world. It is so tied to the Holidays that is should be called Christgiving or Thanksmas Pie.

A few years ago I found my family`s secret. Our Thanksgiving pie was an Edwards` Pie . Now considering my family`s name is Edwards, I never caught on that when asked if it was homemade the answer was simply "It`s definitely an Edwards` pie." They had been serving us pie from a box! My grandmother would be appalled unless it was her idea and I refuse to believe such heresy.  Sneaky huh? That`s my people.

But is is really good pie but I promise a pecan pie is not difficult to make. AND you can freeze it just like an Edwards`!

There are several variations o Pecan Pie. My favorite is:

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup light Karo syrup
1/4 cup molasses (too much molasses and it has a mineral taste)
3 eggs
1/4 cup of butter
1 cup of pecans
1 tsp vanilla
*pinch of salt

Here are two others from an old church cookbook that I have tried and really liked. I think you have a little wiggle room with the types of sugar and corn syrup but not the amounts.

1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1 cup of pecans
1 tsp vanilla
*pinch of salt

OR

1 cup sugar
1 cup of Karo Syrup (it did not specify dark or light so I used the light I had on hand)
3 eggs
1 cup pecans
1 tsp of vanilla
*pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add corn syrup, butter (if using) salt and vanilla and mix well. Stir in pecans. Add to unbaked pie crust.

Bake for 50-60 minutes.

The problem with Pecan Pie is waiting. It needs to be cool enough for the center to be set. If you cut too soon all of the goodness will run out.

*I have figured out that a pinch of salt equals approximately 1/4 tsp. I think, maybe, okay sure.

If you want to freeze it, wait until it is completely cool and wrap with Saran. I know you know this but do not flip it over. Set your pie on top of the Saran and come over the sides. I recommend 2-3 layers. Slide in a large ziptop bag and freeze pecan side up. It should keep for 1-2 months. Pull it out and let it thaw. Once thawed you can heat in a 325 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes to warm it up.

Keep It Sassy- j

I heart kale!

I have an affinity for green leafy vegetables. It started with my baby bottle and liquor. Hey- before you start assuming bad things, I am talking about pot liquor. The delicious juice left in a pot after cooking Southern Greens. And that delicious broth was put in my baby bottle to keep me healthy especially when my grandma thought I looked peaked (beginning to look a little under-the-weather). I could eat them every day but some times cooking them for long periods of time isn't an option. That is when I break out the skillet and enjoy braised kale.

Yummy Yummy Kale

12 oz Kale
1 medium onion
1 jalepeno
1 yellow pepper
1 tbsp oil
1 chicken bouillon cube
3/4 c water
1/2 c red wine
salt and pepper to taste

Okay before we go any further, I have a confession to make. I did not use the onion pictured above or the oil. I cut into that onion and well, let's just say it was cute on the outside and a hot mess on the inside. YUCK! So I substituted a red onion which you will see in the pictures below.

As for the oil, there was a mason jar of bacon grease in the refrigerator. I feel nothing else needs to be said. :)

That is the great thing about a lot of the recipes I have been working on, the have flexibility. If you read and think this would be better adding this or that, try it. And if it works, let me know so I can steal it... ermm, I mean borrow your idea.

Preheat your skillet on medium heat, especially if using a cast iron. I normally put my skillet on the heat while I am slicing my onions and peppers. Add the oil/grease when you begin heating your pan.

Another slight change from the picture above, you will notice the yellow pepper did not make it in the pot.
P-I-C-K-Y   H-U-B-B-Y
I ate it as a snack.

Once sliced, add the onions and jalepeno and cook until soft.

Break up the bouillon cube and sprinkle over the onion and jalepeno. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, add 3/4 cup of water and scrape the yummy bits off the bottom of your pan.

Add your first batch of greens. Eyeball it. Fill the pan as much as possible with a lid being able to fit. As that batch wilts down, add your second batch and continue this process until you can fit all the kale in your pan with the lid on.

Pour the wine over top and braise until tender. You can omit the wine if you prefer and use more water or broth. I like the complexity in flavor the wine brings as well as the touch of sweetness.

This is a great side with any meal or in a bowl right by itself. Tonight it was a side for steak and roasted potatoes but I only went back for seconds on the kale.

Keep it Sassy!

love-j

Belgian Beef Stew

Southern cooking is tied to the seasons. I eat my weight in strawberries April through May, crave fresh tomatoes in late June and peaches in August. Eating seasonally is what makes Southern cuisine budget friendly. So when we hit September and the temperature dips below 75 (hey- have 4 weeks of 100 degree and above temperatures and 75 is a little brisk), I start craving soups and stews. This is one of my favorites.

Belgian Beef Stew

¼ lb bacon

3 tbsp olive oil

4 lbs boneless chuck, bottom and top round, cut into 2-inch pieces

½ c flour + 1 tsp salt + ¼ tsp black pepper mixed together

2 medium onions, sliced
1 celery stalk

12 ounces of mushrooms (I use baby bellas and quarter them. You may prepare them how you like.)

¼ c cognac

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried thyme leaves

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 shallots, sliced

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 12 ounce can dark beer or stout

1 ½ c beef broth

Cook the bacon on a Dutch oven until brown and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Cut beef into 2” cubes. Dredge the cubes in flour and brown over medium heat in Dutch oven. This will need to be done in batches, making sure to not overcrowd the pan. Overcrowding will steam the meat instead of browning.

Okay, truthfully- I did not completely brown the onions before I added the mushrooms.
Next time, I will have more patience grasshopper. :)

Remove beef. Brown the onions and celery. Once brown, add the mushrooms. Reduce the heat to low, remove the pan from the burner and add the cognac. Once added, return to burner.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Return the bacon, beef and onions to the Dutch oven. Stir in the salt, thyme, pepper, bay leaves, garlic, shallots, brown sugar, beer and broth. Heat the stew to a simmer and place in the oven. Cook 2 to 2 ½ hours or until the meat is fork-tender, stirring occasionally.

This stew may also be simmered on the stove top for 2 hours. 

I would love to show you a picture of the finished product but I realized this was gobbled up before I could get a picture.  I guess that means I need to make more. Yay!

A few options:

You can add potatoes, carrots and peas if you would like. I wanted to serve this over rice so I limited my ingredients and it was a thick almost gravy-like stew perfect for rice and crusty bread. That is the great thing about this recipe, it is a great foundation in which to play.

You may swap the the protein. You can certainly use a cheaper cut of pork or boneless, skinless chicken thighs. If you use chicken, I would use 2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, flouring and browning as stated above but adding the chicken breast the last hour of cooking.

You may also substitute the cognac with beef broth if you would prefer.

Keep it Sassy!

love- j

Hello Cheesy...

Why hello gorgeous!

Do you see that? That warm, gooey piece of mozzarella? That warm pancetta that will make any belly happy? That is the making of one delicious grilled cheese sandwich that has been taken to a delightfully delicious "next level".

There are two things in season here in North Carolina that make this sandwich the bee's knees. Basil and tomatoes. Oh so divine tomatoes, proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. I am a huge lover of tomato sandwiches. 2 pieces of fresh white bread, Duke's mayonnaise, vine-ripened tomatoes with salt and pepper. That is heaven on a plate. But not for dear hubby. He is not a fan. But, throw bacon and mozzarella cheese on that sucker and grill it on a cast iron skillet and he drools.

So when we decided we wanted to splurge a little but realized we need to splurge on the cheap, I thought what better way than a "fency" grilled cheese. Definitely not yellow cheese on white bread but not a budget buster.

The Sass in Sass Mouth Kitchen doesn't just come from my ability to make my mother call me by my full name. It actually stands for Simple-Affordable-Southern-Staples and what is more of a staple than a grilled cheese. In the winter time this would simply be a grilled cheese (pancetta, pesto and mozzarella) served with tomato soup. The soup I make with tomatoes I put up in the summer. The pesto, I freeze from all the summer basil. But it was 95 degrees and no one was studying soup. So, I decided to use the fresh tomatoes that I am craving in the winter when I make the soup on the sandwich instead. The result? YUM!

Here is what you need...

1 piece of thinly sliced pancetta per sandwich fried until crispy.

-Like bacon, a little pancetta goes a long way in the flavor department. Ask for it to be sliced thin. 1/4 of a pound of pancetta will make up to 6 sandwiches.

 

1 slice of mozzarella per sandwich
1-2 slices of tomato per sandwich
Basil to taste
2 pieces of bread per sandwich

-I also slice my mozzarella thin. This sandwich is quite rich with pancetta, mozzarella and butter so a little goes a long way. For this sandwich, I used Old World Sprouted Bread. It is reminiscent of a sourdough bread which was nice. It worked well with the richness of the sandwich.

I cut a chiffonade of basil. I do this because it makes it easier to eat on the sandwich. Instead of biting into a hard to eat leaf, this gives you basil in each yummy bite.

Chiffonade sounds fancy but it is simply rolling the leaves into a cigar shape and slicing them into ribbons.

Then the good stuff happens... assembly! Butter the outsides of your bread. If you want to live dangerously, butter the insides too. This is a judgment free zone.

I *heart* bacon!
-I put my pancetta down first.

And Tomatoes!
-And then I put my tomatoes down. Putting the tomatoes in the middle helps prevent a soggy sandwich. But it may not hang around long enough for that to be an issue.

And basil! And cheese! See a pattern?

No panini maker? No problem! Hey, I got skills!
-Grill on medium heat until the outside is crunchy and the inside is gooey.

Heaven!

love- j

My, Oh My, Blueberry Pie!

My sweet wonderful hubby loves pie. It is his favorite dessert. Every time we go to the farmer's market, he heads straight to the pie lady and gazes longingly like a little boy at the toy store. So what's a girl to do? Learn to make pie.

I started with Chocolate Chess. I have the filling down but the crust has eluded me like finding the perfect purse. Impossible, I say, just ask the 10 "perfect" purses hanging out in my closet right now. But then it happened, a little tinkering here, a little tinkering there and HELLO BEAUTIFUL!! The perfect pie crust.

I need to specify... Baking is an exact science. When cooking, not baking, you have a lot of leeway to make it your own. Not so with baking so when I say tinkering, I mean I studied, studied some more and applied the science I learned. Here it is, the almost perfect pie crust:

Before we start- the almost perfect pie crust does not fall into the healthy category. Sorry- I tried, it sucked. Let's just accept that this pie crust will be used on splurge days or days you do not mind running 528 extra miles.

Almost Perfect Pie Crust (because there is always room for improvement)

1 cup all purpose (a-p) flour
1 1/2 cups of *cake flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
8 tbsp cold lard
12 tbsp cold butter (1 1/2 sticks) cut into 1/4 inch pieces
6 to 8 tbsp of iced water

You may be asking why I use two different types of flour. The reason is gluten. Cake flour has less gluten than a-p flour. A-p flour has less than bread flour. Using a higher gluten flour in your pie crust can cause a tougher, chewier crust resulting in a less flaky crust. Think of the "chew" that bread has when you bite into it. This sturdiness/toughness is great for bread but not what we want for our pie crust.  I have used a combination of cake and a-p flour because after trying only cake flour, my crust was a little to soft and did not hold up well to the pie.

I am a food processor pie crust maker. Some will say hand mixing is the way to go and I am perfectly content with that, this is one area that is up to you.

1. Pulse the flours, sugar and salt in the food processor until combined. Add the lard in pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like crumbs.

2. Sprinkle 6 tbsp of ice water over the mixture. Pulse, one pulse at a time, until mixture comes together. (It will begin to pull away from the sides of the processor bowl and form a ball.) If it is still crumbly and not coming together, add the remaining water, 1 tbsp at a time, until it does.

3. Divide the dough into two equal pieces, shape like a ball, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Let the cold dough soften slightly and roll. A friend recommended rolling the crust between two pieces of saran wrap, he is a genius of Albert Einstein proportions. It makes for an easier to handle crust with less mess.

After I roll out the dough, I throw it into the freezer for 5 minutes. This allows the lard and butter time to get cold again. The fat in the crust needs to be as cold as possible when it hits the hot oven. This creates steam in the crust giving us flaky goodness. Now it is ready for the pie dish.

I put my filling together during the 30 chillaxing stage for the crust.

Blueberry filling:

6 c of blueberries
3/4 c of sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp unsalted butter cut into pieces

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. We want the oven HOT when the pie goes in to get the crust where we want it.

1. Put the blueberries in a bowl. Add the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and mix. Let stand for 15 minutes.

2. Roll out the 2nd crust to a 12 inch circle to top the pie. Add the berries to an unbaked pie crust bottom and dot the top with butter.

3. Lay the top crust over the blueberries, seal and crimp the edges. Cut four vent holes so the steam can escape.

4. Place the pie on a baking sheet and put in the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top begins to turn golden.

Rotate the baking sheet and, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake until the juices are bubbling and the top is a deep golden brown, approximately 30-35 minutes.

Cool to room temperature before serving. Okay in the photo below you can tell, waiting it pretty impossible.

Sorry- no fancy plate. I am actually surprised it made it to a plate. :)

I know this sounds like a pain in the tookus especially since you can buy a decent pre-made crust. But trust me, this is so worth effort. Besides, the hard work is burning calories which means you can have more pie!

Strawberry Poke Cake

I love strawberries. When they are in season, I could eat them 2-3 times per day, everyday. They are perfect when ripe and need little adornment, a sprinkle of sugar or my favorite a little balsamic syrup. Yum! But once during strawberry season, strawberry poke cake is mandatory and worth every single calorie.

Strawberry Poke Cake

2 sticks of unsalted butter
1 cup of cake flour
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of fine salt
1 1/4 cups of buttermilk or strawberry flavored kefir (I had kefir which has the tang of buttermilk.)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of sugar
3 large eggs
1 three ounce box of strawberry gelatin

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. One of the keys to great baking is making sure your oven is hot unless otherwise stated in your recipe. 

Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. 

Whisk the buttermilk or kefir and the vanilla in a container that will allow you to pour in to the mixing bowl.

Beat the sugar and butter in a stand mixer (or large bowl if using a hand mixer) on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. This may take up to 5 minutes. This may be referred to as creaming the butter and sugar. Do not rush this process. 

Go butter, go!

Slowly add the eggs and beat until well incorporated.

Reduce the speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture in three additions and the buttermilk/kefir in two additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the side of the bowl and beat until the cake is well mixed.

You may be wondering why we add them in alternates. This process maintains air bubbles and prevents lumps. 

Air bubbles form when you cream the butter and sugar. It also continues when you incorporate the eggs. The more air bubbles you have the better your cake will rise.

If you add all of the dry then the liquid ingredients, lumps are more likely to happen. We then have a tendency to over beat the batter to remove the lumps which causes gluten to form. Gluten equals a tougher, chewier cake.

Pour into your greased pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. This will be approximately 30 minutes. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes and using a wooden spoon poke holes all the way through the cake.

Bring one cup of water to a boil, pour over the gelatin in a small bowl and stir until completely dissolved. Stir in 1/2 cup of cold water. Pour the mixture evenly over the cooled cake. Refrigerate for two hours.

If you do not want to use gelatin, you may use the juice of 2 pints of macerated strawberries. Wash two pints of strawberries. Hull and slice them into a glass bowl. Pour 1/4 cup of sugar over the strawberries and set aside. The longer you let them sit, the more juice you will have for your cake. Strain the juice and keep the strawberries to serve with the cake. Pour the juice over the cake as you would the gelatin.

Many people "frost" the cake with whipped cream. If you would like to top the whole cake with whipped cream take:

2 cups of cold heavy cream

1 tbsp of sugar 

2 tsp of vanilla extract

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla in cold bowl until fluffy. Spread over cake.

Since I am juice hog, I do not top my cake with whipped cream. I serve it with the whipped cream and macerated strawberries on the side and pour as much juice as I can get away with over my slice. Just don't tell my Mom. :) 

Easy Peasy!

In case you didn't know, I love to cook! But, sometimes after a 10 hour day, which happens more than I would like, cooking is the last thing on my mind. I like to have things in the freezer that make throwing a quick meal together, well easy peasy.

The next time you are grilling, put some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on the grill. Once done let them rest until cool, slice and *freeze them on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, remove them from the cookie sheet and put them in a ziptop bag and place in the freezer. You now have the perfect quick and easy protein for chicken tacos, stir fry, pasta, etc.

You may be asking why freeze them on a cookie sheet? Excellent question and one I know the answer to after throwing them in the ziptop bag before the were frozen. They freeze in a clump. Freezing them in a single layer on a cookie sheet allows you to pull out the amount needed and really keeps the reheating process short and sweet.

Another great easy, peasy recipe is crock pot rice. I love short grain brown rice. It is delicious and nutritious but it takes a little while longer to cook- 45 minutes vs. 20 minutes. So it definitely does not lend itself to a quick supper. I make a large batch in the crock pot and freeze it. You can also use this recipe for long grain brown rice and white rice.

The recipe is simple:

2 c short grain brown rice
3 1/2 c of water or broth (I use water since I like a more "neutral" taste.)
1 1/2 tsp of salt
Olive oil or non-stick spray to grease the crock pot.

Grease your crock pot to prevent sticking. Put all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 2- 2 1/2 hours.

You may have noticed that the water to rice ratio is not the normal 2 to 1, 2 cups of water/broth to 1 cup of rice. I prefer my rice more al dente. Since there is very little evaporation in the crock pot, I decreased the liquid amount.

As you can see from my handwritten recipe, I start checking for doneness at 1 1/2 hours. This is one of the few times it is okay to lift the crock pot lid.

Once the rice is done, I spread the rice on a parchment lined cookie sheet so that it is a single layer of rice. and place it in the freezer until the rice is frozen. Once frozen, you can place the rice in smaller "single-serving" ziptop bags or larger family size. Same clump rule applies here. If you put in the bag and place it straight in the freezer, you will have a big clump of rice. Freezing it on the cookie sheet allows you to use what you need and keeps the reheating process short and sweet.

Enjoy!
j

I don't need no stinkin kitchen...

But it sure does help!

This has been the state of my kitchen since late January. A sad, lonely, desolate space. My poor stove, my reliever of stress, maker of memories sitting in the cold garage. But today, the best day EVER, life returned to some semblance of normal. Dun duh da dun....

A stove finally. We still are not done but we are one step closer and I can cook again. No sir-ree, I did not even take the time to remove the plastic from the microwave before I began cooking.

And what was our first dinner with the stove where it belongs? Salad. Yummy strawberry chicken salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Strawberries are in season here in North Carolina and honest-to-goodness they reached out and grabbed my arm in the grocery store.  When you have something as delicious and perfect as in season, local produce the best way to treat it is simply. So here goes...

Strawberry Chicken Salad

For chicken preparation:
2     tsp of olive oil (not extra virgin, we want a little higher smoke point)
1     lbs skinless boneless chicken breast
1     tsp salt
1/2  tsp pepper

Salad Ingredients:
6 cups of leafy greens      (I used a Kale/Chou Frise mix. It stands up to the warm chicken and doesn't
                                          wilt like other mixes.)
5 strawberries                 (I know, I skimped but I needed some for dessert and only picked up 1 pint.)

Balsamic Vinaigrette:
1     part Balsamic vinegar
3     parts extra virgin olive oil
1/4  cup of white wine
And a little bit of magic but I will get to that later

The Chicken-
1. Preheat your skillet on med-high heat with 2 tsp of olive oil. If you do not have olive oil that is not extra virgin, it is perfectly okay to use vegetable oil or *coconut oil. We want something with a higher smoke point. Let your skillet get hot. I am going to recommend not using a non-stick pan. We want the fond (the beautiful brown bits) at the bottom of the pan for the magic later.

2. Take your chicken and pat it dry. If wet chicken is put into the pan, it will steam and not give us the browning we want. Brown = flavor.  Once dry, season with 1 tsp of salt and a 1/2 tsp of pepper. I mix them in a small bowl so that I do not have to worry about contamination. The general seasoning rule I find that works is 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper per pound of chicken. You may adjust accordingly to your taste.

3. Once the skillet is hot, the chicken goes in. You can tell that your skillet is where you want it when your oil begins to thin and cover the bottom of your pan. Put in your chicken and do not "mess" with it. (That means leave it alone.) Once your chicken goes in and your hear the sound of the sizzle, adjust your heat to medium. We want the chicken and the fond to brown and not burn. Depending on the size, it may take the chicken breast 8-11 minutes per side to cook.

After 4 minutes you should be able to flip your chicken with out it sticking to the pan. You want chicken that is cooked to 165 degrees. If you are using a thermometer, you want to take it out of the skillet at 155 degrees. Once you take it out of the skillet, you are going to let it rest and the chicken will continue to cook to the appropriate temperature. Do not skip the resting stage! You want the juices to redistribute so they stay in your chicken and not on your cutting board.

4. Once your chicken is out of the skillet, take the 1/4 cup of wine (or chicken broth if you prefer to not use wine) and deglaze your skillet. Remove from the heat and hold on to the yummy goodness in the bottom of your pan. You can poor it into a bowl but there really is no need to dirty up another dish.

The Salad-
1. While the chicken is cooking, wash your strawberries and lay on a hand towel or paper towel to dry.

2. Prep your greens. I buy pre-washed greens and chop them into bite-sized pieces.

3. Slice your strawberries into quarters.

The Balsamic Vinaigrette-

I use 1 part balsamic to 3 parts olive oil.

My ratio for this size salad was 1 ounce Balsamic to 3 ounces olive oil. I put it in a pint size Mason and shake until mixed once I am ready to dress my greens. But there is one more step to this dressing for this salad. The wine in the pan with the yummy skillet goodness? That goes in as well. It adds a richness and depth of flavor that is amazing!

Now it is time to put everything together.

Pour the dressing over the greens, reserving some to pour over the chicken. This is your call. I prefer lightly dressed greens with a little more dressing on my chicken.

Using your hand or tongs, mix until the greens are coated. Arrange greens on your plate. Slice the now rested chicken and put on top of your greens and place your strawberries around the chicken. Pour dressing over top of your chicken.

And enjoy! I think my husband sure did!