Cooking with ChristyB

Beer Bread

admin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 17:45:42 +0000

Nothing beats the Tastefully Simple Beer Bread, but at $5.49 a box, it’s worth giving the homemade version a try. I first learned of this beer bread recipe from a family friend when I was younger. I think this is the one and only thing she knew how to cook. We were so surprised that she made it from scratch. If she could do it, you can do it. It’s very simple to make.

Beer Bread
*Recipe from a family friend

3 cups self-rising flour
3 tablespoons white sugar or honey
12-ounce can beer
3 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar (or honey) and flour. Add beer and continue to mix. Batter will be sticky. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Pour melted butter over the top of dough. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 for 60 minutes. The top will be crunchy, and the insides will be soft. Serve topped with butter and/or honey.

Scotch Teas

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:26:52 +0000

This is a recipe I stole from my mom’s recipe box before moving out. When I’m craving something sweet, this is a go-to recipe I often choose. Because I often crave something sweet.

Scotch Teas
*Recipe from Mom’s recipe box.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups quick-cook rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Combine butter and sugar in a medium saucepan until butter melts. Stir in remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour mixture into a 9-inch glass baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Cut into bars while warm.

Calzone

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:13:32 +0000

If you can think ahead to thaw one of those frozen bread loaves out, a calzone is quick and easy to make. There are so many variations you could try - meatball, pepperoni, hamburger, chicken parmesan, I could go on and on. This time I went with hamburger.

Calzone
*Recipe I’ve made forever. Don’t remember where I learned how to make it.

Frozen bread loaf, thawed
Spaghetti sauce
Frozen meatballs or ground beef, cooked & drained
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Sliced olives, optional
1 egg, beaten
Parmesan cheese

On a floured surface, roll out the thawed bread dough into a large round circle. Spread on spaghetti sauce on HALF of the circle. Then add the cooked hamburger, mozzarella cheese and olives. (Don’t be a dork like I was and spread the ingredients over the entire circle. Stuff will go everywhere when you try to fold the dough in half. Trust me.)

Fold the dough over the top of the ingredients, press edges to seal. Place on a baking sheet. Brush top of dough with the beaten egg. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.

Cut into slices and serve warm.

September Dinner Menu

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:16:43 +0000

September’s dinner menu ideas with lots of recipe links is now posted. You can view the calendar HERE. Happy cooking!

DAY 31 ~ Apple Pie Pops

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:29:34 +0000

Wow! I successfully made it through 31 consecutive days of posting on the cooking blog. I’m on a roll now. Stay tuned for September’s monthly dinner menu ideas.

When I found today’s recipe it made me long for the days when you could send homemade treats to school with your kids. I would SO have made these Apple Pie Pops for their fall parties at school. Back in the day I sent little lady bug and bumble bee cookies for my daughter’s birthday treats. Boughten hard sugar cookies are just not the same. Thankfully my kids have grown too old for the school parties because coming up with unusual store-boughten treats was getting tough. You should know I can’t do anything normal, average or simple. It’s just not me. It’s a sickness. Really.

Apple Pie Pops
*Recipe from EHow.com

2 large apples
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice blend
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
20 wooden lollipop sticks
1 package (2 pieces) of rolled pie dough
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking pans with parchment paper and spray them with cooking spray. Unfold each pie dough sheet and use a glass or 3-inch round cookie cutter to cut 10 circles from each dough sheet. Knead and re-roll the scraps for more circles as needed. Place a tablespoon of pie mixture into center of each circle and a lollipop stick, fold over and crimp or leave them round by adding a top circle, just be sure to crimp edges with a fork. Pinch the dough around the stick to make sure it is secure.

In a small bowl whisk together egg yolk and water, brush it over each pop for the golden brown and flakey crust. Mix together the cinnamon and left over sugar…sprinkle over pops and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Then I found this in the September 2010 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. How adorable are these!??!

Fried Round Steak

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:00:43 +0000

I’m fairly certain there is no one left out there that doesn’t read the Pioneer Woman’s blog. On the off chance that you don’t I can promise you the following:

1. Click the link above and you will be hooked.
2. You would love her recipes.
3. She cooks, writes and photographs food much better than me.
4. You better still read THIS blog after you have read the Pioneer Woman’s blog. It’s the least you can do to thank me for telling you about her.
5. Now I’m going to share one of her recent recipes that got a thumbs up from my family.

Fried Round Steak
*Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

3 pounds cube steak (round steak that’s been extra tenderized)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 teaspoons ground black pepper, or to taste
Salt, for seasoning meat
1/2 cup canola oil (more if needed)
2 tablespoons butter

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Mix together flour, seasoned salt, and pepper.
Season both sides of steaks with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece in flour mixture, pressing to coat with as much flour as possible.
Add butter to pan right before frying.
When butter is melted, fry pieces of steak in butter/oil mixture. Flip when sides are deep golden brown and cook about 1 minute on the other side.
Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:08:53 +0000

My daughter and I enjoy watching Cupcake Wars on Food Network. They make baking cupcakes look so easy. So easy that even I could do it. I convinced myself of that and went right into the kitchen to replicate a Red Velvet cupcake with Cream Cheese frosting recipe I found online.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
*Recipe found online.

1/2 cup shortening (do not substitute butter or margarine)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, presifted
1 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 bottle red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Cream together the shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after adding each egg. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk, mixing on medium until blended. In a s separate bowl, mix the cocoa, vanilla and food coloring. Then fill up the food coloring bottle with water and add the water to the mix. Use a whisk to mix until smooth. Add this to the red velvet cake batter. Mix well on low. Dissolve the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl. Add to the cake batter and mix.

Spoon the red velvet cake batter evenly into two greased cupcake tins using an ice cream scoop. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Cool the cupcakes completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting
*Recipe found online.

(2) 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened (do not substitute margarine)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Mix well until creamy. Then add the vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. Mix well with a blender or by hand. Put cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator while the red velvet cake is baking. Do not use the frosting until it is cold. Apply to the red velvet cupcakes.

Check out my top notch piping skillz with my icing that wasn’t quite the right consistency.

While they did taste good, sadly my inferrior decorating abilities put a damper on my cupake bakery dream.

Love It! ~ Food Mandolin

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:34:43 +0000

Since it’s the weekend, I thought I would change things up a bit and post about one of my fave kitchen gadgets instead of sharing a recipe today.
For the longest time I spent forever slicing onions and potatoes as thinly as I could. It took way too long and the slices were never the same size. By the time I was done slicing, the potatoes had turned brown.

That just sounded like an infomercial. **Picture me with my hair all messed up, food on my face and wiping the sweat from my forehead from all the slicing.**

Armed with a gift card and nothing in mind that I absolutely “needed”, I browsed Bed, Bath and Beyond. I found myself in the food gadgets section. I picked up a mandolin, wondered how in the heck it worked, debated the cheaper versions against the more expensive versions and wondered if I really “needed” a mandolin. I literally picked one up, put it in the cart, changed my mind and put it back probably five times. Then I threw caution to the wind and put it in my cart and left it! I’m crazy wild like that. **And I got it for the low, low price of $30. But wait! That’s not all, there’s more! It was actually cheaper than that with my BB&B 20% off coupon.**

Off topic - you do know that you can use up to five BB&B coupons at the same time, right? And, that they never really expire? For the longest time I didn’t know that. I don’t even want to think of the money I could have saved before some kind soul clued me in.

Back to mandolins - I am SO glad I let my hair down and made the purchase. I LOVE IT!! I took a wild guess and went with the middle of the road mandolin. I can now slice a potato in uniform slices in 60 seconds flat. In the last week I’ve used it to make Individual Scalloped Potatoes and to slice onions and cucumbers for vinegar and Italian dressing marinated cucumbers. My husband used it just this morning to make homemade hashbrowns. It was SO worth the price even without the coupon!

If you find your self wanting one for yourself, ***Act now! This is a one time offer.**

Grilled Turkey Breast

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:44:00 +0000

Day 27 of 31 consecutive days of cooking posts and recipes. I haven’t failed yet. Well, I’ve failed at many cooking attempts, but I haven’t failed to post each day, good or bad. Today is one of those “bad” posts in regards to my pictures. This was from one of those nights when I was racing the clock to get dinner fixed after work but before we had to head out the door again for the evening. It was not one of my best photography moments as you can see. But, you get the point. I didn’t burn the turkey breasts and they were edible. That would be the “good”.

Grilled Turkey Breast
*Recipe from Cooks.com

(1) 16-ounce bottle Ott’s Famous Dressing
Boneless turkey breast

Make several slits in the turkey breast. Place in a plastic bag and marinate in Ott’s Famous Dressing in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Lightly grease cold grill rack. Preheat grill. Place turkey breast on grill rack on grill. Cover grill and cook for 20 minutes. Turn turkey over and spoon on Ott’s Famous Dressing. Cover grill and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until meat is 175 degrees.

Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 19:16:00 +0000

I just typed a long story of how I found these heavenly cookies and that they are a copy cat recipe of the amazing Mrs. Fields cinnamon sugar cookies and my blog decided it wasn’t worth saving. You have been spared. Instead, I simply present to you my new absolute FAVORITE cookie…

Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies
*Recipe from AllRecipes.com

3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Combine the 3 tablespoons white sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.

Blend dark brown sugar and white sugar in a large bowl with mixer on medium speed. Add butter and blend until grainy. Add eggs and vanilla extract, mixing until light and fluffy.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Add to sugar mixture, mixing at low speed just long enough to combine. Overmixing makes tough cookies!

Roll dough into 1inch balls, then roll each ball into cinnamon-sugar to coat. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 300 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from sheets and let cool on racks.