Food Holiday's for the week:
Coffee Cake Day April 7
National Empañada Day April 8
Chinese Almond Cookie Day April 9
National Cinnamon Crescent Day April 10
National Cheese Fondue Day April 11
Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day - National Licorice Day April 12
National Peach Cobbler Day April 13
Weekly Recipe Thread Ping List
(to be added/deleted - please contact me)
Recap of recipes from March 30th Thread:
Dessert _ Post#` 17 _ Easy Sticky-Toffee Pudding
Sauces _ Post#` 3 _ Homemade Mayonnaise
Seafood _ Post#` 6 _ Crabmeat Au Gratin
Soup _ Post#` 10 _ Grandpa Bagby’s Rocking Tater Soup
Vegetables _ Post#` 14 _ Cheesy Broccoli
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2866351/posts?page=22#22
We are making this for supper tomorrow. We are having friends over and they are dying to try it out. It will only be the second time we’ve made it - it’s still experimental cuisine.
Tur-Bac-Hen
Origin of the recipe:
We had a bacon-themed potluck at my workplace for St.Patrick’s Day (March 16th, since the actual holiday fell on a weekend this year). When it was first announced, a coworker and I had a brief discussion about what to bring (Bacon ice cream? Bacon-wrapped bacon?).
I jokingly suggested Tur-Bac-Hen, inspired by Turducken. After further consideration, I decided to go ahead and make it, since my wife and I both enjoy experimenting in the kitchen. I settled on using a single breast of turkey, layered with a filling and bacon, and a chicken breast, also stuffed the same way.
Serendipitously we ended up with some accidental home-made yogurt cheese when a batch of yogurt didn’t quite turn out. It is very much like Feta cheese, which can most likely be substituted in this recipe.
This dish was also deceptively easy to prepare, which is never a bad thing.
Ingredients:
1 turkey breast (boneless or de-boned)
1 boneless chicken breast
1 bunch of cilantro
8-10 cloves garlic
1 cup yogurt cheese or Feta cheese (packed)
1 lb bacon
1 tsp sea salt
To Do List:
Cook all but 4 slices of bacon until lightly crisp and blot the grease. Set aside the other 4 uncooked slices for later.
Blend garlic and cilantro in a food processor until well chopped. Add cheese and mix again until well blended or mix by hand.
Split both breasts across the middle, so when you lay them out flat they look like hearts.
Cover inside of breasts with cheese mix, sprinkle salt on them, then lay cooked bacon on them. It may be necessary to break the bacon strips in half to make them fit (you don’t want them hanging out in the oven, as they may get overcooked).
Lay the chicken breast inside the turkey breast, then fold the whole thing over, like closing a book.
Cover with the 4 pieces of uncooked bacon in a criss-cross pattern.
Place in a small casserole dish and cover in foil (remove for last 45 minutes or so of baking, so the bacon and the turkey breast get browned). Make sure the dish has substantial sides, as a fair amount of juice will collect at the bottom.
Bake in 325 degree oven until inside temp reaches 180 degrees.
Note on baking: due to time constraints the day we made this, we had to ratchet up the temperature to hurry the process along, so we don’t have the exact figures on cook times. Just figure on fussing over it for a couple of hours.
Good week for rabbit stew?? :)
The menu is making my mouth water already. My SIL is having ham and making her cheesey hash brown potato casserole (I don't have the recipe, but I want it!!). She's also doing a relish tray and deviled eggs. Her mom is bringing a fruit bowl. I am bringing green beans with bacon/onions, a Whipped Cream Salad, a carrot souffle, and a Spinach & Edamame salad ( a healthier alternative for my youngest brother who strictly watches what he eats). For dessert, my SIL is having a pie & I am making an Apple & Pear Crisp (Ina Garten recipe) that is supposed to be really good. I have some good cake recipes, but for whatever reason, I am just not in the mood to bake a cake.
A note regarding the wine ….. saw a little saying “I tried cooking with wine for the first time last night. Afer five glasses, I forgot why I was in the kitchen.” Nope, I'm not that bad, but when I'm working on a major meal, a sip now and again keeps me a happy cook. :-)
Links:
Apple & Pear Crisp
Spinach & Edamame Salad
Carrot Souffle
(I read the comments on the souffle and will take posters' advice on cutting back on the sugar & using the blender to get all the chunks out of my carrots)
Homemade Ketchup
1 can 6-oz. no salt added tomato paste
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Mix ingredients well. Add more spices if needed to taste. Store in the refrigerator in a capped glass jar or an old squeeze ketchup bottle.
Add your favorite hot sauce for hot ketchup.
Recipe can be doubled or more.
Keep refrigerated. Toss after a month or so.
Notes:
I used Hunt’s Tomato Paste and, after adjusting the spices, it came very close to tasting like Hunt’s Ketchup.
My 93 year old mom will be the only one joining us this year as our son scheduled his son’’s birthday party for tomorrow. We figure mom has limited ime which is a treasure to us. She lives in an assisted living center and is tired of fish, pork, and chicken and just wanted finger foods. To that end, we’ll hve the following:
Shrimp cocktails
Tomato/mozzarella and basil stacks drizzled with basil olive oil
Two different typws of melon wrapped in proscuitto
Aspargus roasted in proscuitto
Cheese and cracker tray
Lemon bars
A few toddies
And watch the Masters together
Happy Easter all!!!
Hi, Libertarian27! I tried a new recipe this week and it is great. Just wanted to pass it on to Freeper bakers
BURGER BUNS:
3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
2 tbsp butter
1 large egg
3 1/2 cups all purpose, unbleached flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp instant yeast
Topping: 3 tbsp melted butter
Directions: Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients (by hand, mixer or bread machine). I went old fashioned and did it by hand. Make a soft, smooth dough (I kneaded about 5-7 minutes). Cover the dough and let rise for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in bulk. Deflate the dough gently. Divide into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball, flatten to about 3” across and place them on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise for about an hour or until noticeably puffy. Brush the buns, gently, with half the melted butter. Bake in preheated over at 375 degrees until golden. Remove from oven and brush with remaining butter (the butter gives an extra richness and pretty satiny crust)
***These buns will hold up to your juiciest burgers, pulled pork barbecue, or even piled high lunch meat. We really enjoyed it and I hope you do as well. Hugs, Mom
Wish I could contribute something this week but it's just not possible with all that my family and I have going on. New grand kids, working on cars, and just plain working, LOL!
I have made a few things over the past couple of weeks but didn't keep track of the recipes as I should.
The only thing that comes to mind is something I may have posted before. It's an unintentional variation on a recipe from Betty's Kitchen from YouTube.
Gooey Butter Cake
18.25-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), melted and cooled
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 additional eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 additional stick butter (1/2 cup), melted and cooled
16-ounce box confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar or icing sugar)
cooking oil spray
In a mixing bowl, combine the yellow cake mix, 1 egg, and 1 stick melted butter. Mix with an electric mixer until fully mixed. Press this mixture firmly and evenly into a 13-inch by 9-inch by 2-inch baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking oil spray. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat 8 ounces of cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 stick of melted butter. Beat until fully mixed.
Add 1 box confectioner's sugar and beat well. Spread mixture evenly over the cake mixture and bake in a 350 degree (F) oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut into squares of desired size and serve.
The variation is that I started to make this without checking my cupboard. Used white cake mix instead of the yellow and it was 16 oz instead of 18oz IIRC.
Everything else was the same so the ratios were a bit off. Plus instead of a 13x9 pan the mixture seemed too thin so I put it in a bread loaf sized Pfaltzgraff stoneware.
Needless to say there was WAY more "icing" than what was needed HOWEVER it turned out GREAT! Thicker than it should have been and probably a lot sweeter but it was gone before I knew. Everyone loved it. All that was left for me was only about a one inch square piece.