I read a very interested blog the other day about herbal sugars. This lady was so radiant about how wonderful an herbal sugar was sprinkled on toast or in your coffee that I almost believed it. Hey I said ALMOST! After pulling away from her unicorn theory I realized that she wasnt too far off. Instead of sugar why not salt. I know there are plenty of you out there who like sweet and herbal and salty all in one bite. And I am not disagreeing with that. I like it too. But I do not warrant a whole jar of herbal sugar. Salt on the other hand could be really fun.
I recently killed a large portion of my rosemary and all of my sage, all accidentally I assure you! I would never purposefully danger my precious! It was death by overfertilizing. But I decided before all the needles died I would pluck them off and make herbal salt with them. Why not right? I mean I have the stuff to do it.
I pulled out my reserved tiny mason jars (I mean afterall who needs a mason jar full of herbal salt?? Thats crazy talk). The method is herb/salt/herb/salt/herb/salt......etc. I did a rosemary and a sage. Although I didnt have as much sage as I would have preferred. It is suppose to sit and let the herbs oils permeate for at least 2 weeks. So I have hit that mark and pulled it off my cool dark shelf. I opened the sage jar first. Mmmmmmm.......salt. I opened the second jar. Mmmmmmmm.......rosemary salt. I believe the difference was the small amount of sage in that jar.
But at the present moment I am unsure if I will grind the herbal salt so the rosemary is always incorporated or use around it. I am afraid if I grind it then I will want to add more herbs and spices to it and make it a generic spice blend. Not that its a bad idea. Just not exactly what I had in mind when I started.
I will say this. While reading the comments about herbal SUGAR I saw some that peaked my interest. A lemon verbena in sugar would be very nice to use in/on sugar cookies. Maybe even mint. But if you are looking for something to do with your almost dead herbs try some salt or perhaps sugar and let me know how it turns out!
This has got to be one of my favorite desserts. And yes before you ask you will gain 5lbs eating it. But it is absolutely worth it in the end!! This is decadent and rich and sickeningly sweet and oh so satisfying. This is southern sweets at its very best!!
Now this recipe I halved since it was just me eating it. But I have made the full recipe several times and love it every time. So this is the full recipe.
Recipe:
6Tbutter
1 3/4c sugar
1c self-rising flour
5 1/2T unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
1/2c milk
1t vanilla extract
1/2c chopped pecans ( I always use more)
1/2c chopped toffee bits (I like to use crushed up Skor bars)
1 1/2c boiling water
dulce de leche ice cream or vanilla ice cream
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place butter in an 8x8 casserole dish. Place in oven for 5-10 minutes or until butter is melted. Remove from oven. Set aside.
In a medium bowl combine 3/4c sugar, flour, and 1 1/2T cocoa. Add milk and vanilla, whisking until smooth. Pour over butter in dish.
In a separate medium bowl combine remaining 1c sugar, remaining 4T cocoa powder, pecans, and toffee bits. Sprinkle evenly over sugar mixture. Slowly pour the boiling water over the top of the cobbler. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the top of the cobbler looks set.
Serve warm with ice cream.
This dish will make you wanna slap yo momma. I suppose. Never really understood the expression. One of those southern ones that just is what it is. But its decadent and wonderful. I have actually made this for my mother. The first time I made this was for her on one of her visits to Vegas. We are big sweet eaters and decided we could handle a large portion of this dessert. So we piled our bowls with cobbler and ladled on the ice cream. Both of us ate about half of our plate and realized we were STUFFED! So beware. You may make yourself sick eating this it is so good. And I do recommend the dulce de leche ice cream if you have or can get. The vanilla is perfectly fine but the dulce de leche adds a little something extra to the dish. And this also reheats nicely. Spoon some cold out of the fridge onto a plate and nuke it and youll never know the difference. I hope yall enjoy this as much as I always do!!
Easter is upon us and nothing says Easter like lamb! Although it is more trouble than it is worth to cook for just one person this holiday I decided to go ahead and do something. I couldnt let today go by and just have cereal for dinner. So while out shopping in the meat department at Publix I saw their sale on lamb shanks. What is more Eastery than lamb?? Well perhaps a ham. But that is an Americanized Easter. I tend to believe lamb is more traditional. So lamb shanks it is! Lamb shank is a portion of meat from the shoulder that contains succulent meat as well as tendons and fat. This cut of meat is best when it is braised. Braising just means you are going to cook the meat in liquid to help break down the meat and make it tender.
Since I have all the time in the world why not make one for myself. Give myself a little taste of a proper Easter dinner even if its a dinner for one. And most recipes you find are for at least 4 lamb shanks but I didnt need that much so I took several different recipes and adapted it to work for one. One thing to note here is that the liquid needed to be enough to at least cover the shank half way. So I have way more liquid than I need to keep the meat tender while cooking.
Recipe:
1 lamb shank
1 large shallot, sliced
2 small carrots, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 small sprigs of rosemary
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1T tomato paste
1/3 bottle red wine
1c veal stock or chicken stock
In a dutch oven heat some olive oil over medium-high heat. Add lamb shank and sear on all sides. remove from pan and add carrots, shallots, and garlic. Saute until soft. Add red wine and deglaze the pan. Add tomato paste and stock and stir together. Add shank, rosemary, bay, and salt and pepper. Reduce heat to very low and cover. This will need to cook for several hours before it is ready to eat. Mine cooked for about 2 1/2 hours. I wanted to make sure it was plenty tender since there wasnt a lot of liquid and only one shank.
Pull out your shank and drain the braising liquid into a pot leaving behind the vegetables. Simmer the liquid until slightly reduced. If you want it thicker than an au jus then make a cornstarch slurry. This means take equal parts cornstarch and liquid and mix together well to thicken your sauces. The slurry keeps you from having clumps of cornstarch in your sauce.
I made polenta to go with my lamb. But potatoes or rice would work fine too. I garnished it with some roughly torn Italian flat leaf parsley.
So dinner turned out to be pretty good. I think it wouldve been better with someone to share it with. But oh well. Life goes on. The polenta was an excellent choice. And if you dont have polenta but want it....use cornmeal! So to all of you who love lamb like I do, this dish is for you! Slow cooked comfort food at its best!
Okay, I am a little late in blogging for April Fools Day, but rather late than never right? Well that is my thinking at least. Last year I made the "sushi" that was rice krispie treat wrapped in fruit leather with fruit slices. So what could top that? Perhaps "lasagna" could. And it was worth a shot! So I drug the kids to the grocery and together we forgot our list and winged it! So here is my winged version of fake lasagna.
Ingredients:
vanilla pudding mix (made as directed on box)
pound cake sliced into 1/4in slices
small tub ricotta cheese
powedered sugar
1/2 small jar strawberry jam
oreo cookies
bananas
white chocolate, shaved
mint, sliced
Mix your ricotta with 6T or more of powdered sugar. I pulsed my through a small food processor to make it smooth like cannoli filling. Use your own personal tastes on the sugar.
The recipe said to take 5 Oreo cookies and crush them up and add to your jam. But either I did something wrong or crushed the cookies too much or something else because when I mixed them together the color turned almost black instead of staying strawberry red. So if I ever did this again I do not think I would add the Oreos to the "marinara". But use your own preferences here.
In a small casserole dish place pound cake slices. Gently spread some strawberry jam mixture over the pound cake. Then layer with sweetened ricotta. Take a banana and slice. Place the slices on top of the ricotta. Finish with vanilla pudding. Continue layering until all ingredients are used or the pan is full. Take your white chocolate and shave it on a cheese grater. Place the shavings on the top of the "lasagna" Top with sliced mint leaves. Unfortunately I didnt have any fresh mint in my garden and forgot to buy some. Oh well.
Well now that is is officially spring I thought I would share my progress on my garden. As you know we built the on the ground structure and then planted sugar peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes. Everything is really growing. The broccoli seemed to stop growing and since it was time to plant peppers, I decided to call that a growing lesson in gardening.
The sugar peas almost didnt make it. They got really withered looking and started shriveling up. My dad said it was due to the high heat for those plants. But the day I went to pull them out of the ground I noticed pods on them! Go figure. So I let them go a few more weeks. We didnt get but maybe 18 pods out of the garden that were edible and me and Anthony ate most of those after picking. But there were some pods with large peas inside that were very bitter. So I pulled them off the plants and took out the pea and dried it to try again next year. After pulling up my sugar peas I planted some purple beans my grandmother gave me. There is nothing to show for them but I only did it this week. So the blank spot in the back of the garden is the purple beans. I hope they turn out!!
My cauliflower has only just started to take off. And I cannot tell if I see some formation of a head inside the leaves or not. But I am excited that 3 of them survived.
The potatoes have just kept growing more and more every day. I am waiting for about another month before checking on them. I think they should flower but I am not 100% on that. I am still new at all of this and learning as I go along.
Since I pulled up the broccoli you may be wondering what I planted that was so important. Well peppers of course!! I planted some sweet banana peppers, red and green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and poblano peppers. Although you would not believe how hard it is to find a poblano plant. So far I have only found one! I am very excited about those.
Now my boxed garden is full. But I wanted to grow more stuff. So we found these very lovely, but heavy, half whiskey barrels at Home Depot that we decided would look lovely on our back porch. So I have 2! One barrel has 2 blueberry bushes that have taken off. They already have at least a pint of new blueberries growing on the limbs. My dad was quite suprised a few weeks ago when he saw them. And everything I read told me that a blueberry bush would produce the first year but not a lot. But these seem to be scary good and blooming and producing berries. So heres to hoping!
Alright, dont freak out yet. You know you are intrigued! Everyone nowadays is looking for a way to make their junk food healthier. And that includes brownies. Now for me, Im not a big brownie fan. I eat them from time to time but I dont seek them out. Recently I was on the mighty facebook talking with some friends about food and one of them recommended a site for healthy zucchini brownies that she swore were delicious. To check out the ladys site click here. About a week went by and one lady tried them and loved them. She posted on my wall what she did and how well she liked them. So I decided I ought to jump on the bandwagon and try them. So I hauled myself off my comfy couch ( it was the week after the kids spring break) and head to the grocery store for the items necessary to complete the recipe. And now without further ado I give you a healthier version of brownies!
Recipe:
2 eggs
1T vanilla extract ( I used my own homemade)*
1/4c applesauce
3/4c agave nectar (although others have used honey instead or 1c regular sugar)**
1/4t salt
1c whole wheat flour***
1/2c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2t baking soda
1t cinnamon
1/4t ground cardamom (it has been suggested to use a chili powder instead)****
2c grated zucchini
1 1/2c semi sweet chocolate chips (I used abot 3/4c and it might be too much)
1/2c chopped nuts (not in original recipe)
*I make my own vanilla extract
**Agave nectar is a sugar substitute. I prefer this sweetener. It is not quite as sweet as honey and I do not like honey. Some of my friends have begged to differ and believe honey is better for you and tastes better. So use what you prefer.
*** This recipe called for Whole Wheat flour. This is not something I typically keep in the house. But I decided to go with it and use the King Arthur brand. From my limited knowledge of baking and whole wheat flour, when you bake with it you typically need to cut it with white flour so when I saw the white wheat flour I opted for that instead of whole wheat. But use your own judgements.
**** Cardamom is not a typical spice in most peoples cabinets. It happens to be one in mine due to my love of Middle Eastern food. So I wanted to show people what it looked like. I also use a very flavorful cinnamon that is not typically found in grocery stores. I buy Ceylon cinnamon which has a more pronounced flavor. Going back to store bought cinnamon almost feels like a sin now! I highly recommend buying. I get mine from My Spice Sage. You can catch some really good deals from them too!!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together your eggs, vanilla, applesauce, agave, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cardamom. Add in your egg mixture and mix until just combined. Add in your zucchini and chocolate chips and nuts. Pour batter into a small dish, greased.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
The brownies stay super moist due to the high water content in the zucchini. It is tasty. You cannot tell there is zucchini in it for all you veggie haters. It is one of those great veggies that is easy to sneak into sweets. I mean think of zucchini bread! The spices were a nice touch although I am still undecided if I like the cardamom in them. I believe the suggested chili spice would have been a better touch. And I am very glad I added the nuts into the brownies. I need that crunch factor in a brownie to mix up the soft textures. It gives my mouth a break from mush.
Overall I am happy with the result. I do wish I had someone to feed the brownies to and give another opinion on. But I did save my leftover zucchini and froze it so maybe I will make some for my unexpecting visitors!! MUAHAHAHA!! Talk about sneaky..........although if I proclaim this on the web, perhaps my plan is foiled.......much to consider.
Anyways, if you are health conscious or just looking for a way to cut some calories or add some more nutrition into your life or like me just do something different because you can then try this out. You may be pleasantly suprised.
Today is a day that I felt like a little decadence and sophistication. I am talking of course about the demure fried salmon patty. Oh man talk about delicious! It instantly conjures images of my childhood. I can remember eating then with my Dad on weekends. We would eat salmon patties and fries dipped generously in ketchup and lots of hot sauce. And to this day the smell of that prepackaged salmon makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And with a feeling like that this dish is something I will never abandon despite my feelings of love toward hoity toity foods like lamb chops and my relationship with all kinds of ethnic foods from Asian to Latin to Middle Eastern. This is something I feel is down home southern food at its best. So dont knock it. Try it and see what you think. And yes, I am sure there are TONS of ways I could take this humble inexpensive meal and turn it into something more gourmet. But I won't. It is like messing with a childhood memory and altering it to make it better than it was.
So what is in this dish? The simplest things in the world!!
Recipe:
2 cans salmon (either bones in or out...just make sure if using the ones with bones and skin that you remove all of that before using....and unless you are in a huge hurry I would recommend bone in)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4c all purpose flour
1/4c cornmeal**
salt and pepper
**the best cornmeal in the world is Hoover's fine white cornmeal. And most people in this part of the state will agree that nothing compares to it. So do yourself a favor and have some shipped to whatever part of the country you are reading this from.
Simply add all the ingredients together and form into balls or patties, depending on personal preference.
Heat a skillet with about 1/4in of oil. You want enough in the pan so its frying and not sauting. You want your heat at about medium-high. Since the salmon is ready to eat you just want a nice brown crust on the outside.
Flip only once. Drain on a papertowel.
Add copious amounts of ketchup and Louisiana Hot Sauce which is my personal all time favorite hot sauce. Nothing compares to its flavors.
Not sit down and enjoy a glimpse into my childhood and hopefully make some memories of your own!!
