Eggs Benedict

It is Passover everyone and Easter is just around the corner! Today I will be posting the recipe for my favorite breakfast food, Eggs Benedict! Surprise! Not something for Passover or Easter. Well, I guess it could be eaten for Easter. Defiantly not for Passover though as it is not kosher at all. Although I guess you could substitute the pork for turkey bacon if you wanted too, but I have not tried that. If you do please let me know how that turns out. This particular recipe makes 2 servings and is fairly easy to change depending on how many people you are serving.

Ingredients

v  2 egg yolks

v  1 tablespoon and 2 ¼ teaspoons of lemon juice

v  A small pinch of white pepper (you could use black pepper if you cannot find white pepper)

v  1/8 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

v  1 ½ teaspoons of water

v  ½ cup of butter that is melted and 1 tablespoon of butter that is softened

v  1/8 teaspoon of sea salt

v  4 eggs

v  ½ teaspoon of distilled white vinegar

v  4 large pieces of Canadian Bacon

v  2 English muffins that are split (If you are living outside of the United States they are also called Muffins or Breakfast Muffins. I have run into this problem as my friends outside of the States have no idea what the term English muffin means)

Directions for the Sauce (Hollandaise Sauce)

v  Fill the bottom of a double boiler with water making sure that it is not full enough for water to get into the top pan

v  Bring water to a point just before it boils

v  Whisk egg yolks, lemon juice, white pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tablespoon of water together in the top pan

v  While whisking add the melted butter to the mixture slowly until well mixed

v  Add salt and remove from heat

v  Tips!: If the sauce seems to get too thick you can add a teaspoon of hot water to the mixture. To keep the sauce from cooling to much while you are making the rest of the dish you should keep the pan lid on

Directions for Eggs (Poached Eggs)

v  Fill a large pan with about three inches of water and bring to a point just before boiling

v  Add vinegar

v  Break eggs carefully into the water

v  Cook eggs for 2 ½ to 3 minutes keeping in mind that the egg yolks will still be soft in the center

v  Remove eggs from water with a slotted spoon and set on a plate

Finishing the Dish

v  Brown the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat and toast the English muffins

v  Butter the toasted muffins with the softened butter and place a slice of the bacon on each one

v  On top of the bacon place one poached egg and drizzle with the sauce

Hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Raspberry Meringues

So, I have been busy and I don’t know when it’s going to let up. So, I am not promising how often I will update. I am trying to make time to update as often as I can! Today I will be posting a recipe that is pretty tasty. It is a type of candy, although some people insist that they are a type of cookie. However, since there is not any flour in it I have a hard type thinking of these as a type of cookie. Today I will be posting the recipe for Raspberry Meringues.

Ingredients

v  3 large egg whites (a little tip for you: if you have them at room temperature it is easier to mix for this)

v  ¾ cup of white sugar

v  1/8 of a teaspoon of sea salt

v  1/8 of a teaspoon of cream of tartar

v  1 teaspoon of raspberry extract

v  Red gel food colouring (You must use the gel food colouring for this recipe or it will mess up the recipe!)

Directions

v  Preheat your oven to 200⁰F

v  Set a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water

v  Wisk egg whites and sugar together until sugar is dissolved and it is warm

v  Mix in the sea salt and cream of tartar

v  Using an electric mixer whip the mixture on medium-high while slowly adding the raspberry extract until it forms stiff and glossy peaks (this should take about 6-8 minutes and the mixture should be almost cool

v  Paint 3-5 vertical stripes of the gel colouring inside of a large pastry bag

v  Fit bag with a ½ inch round tip

v  Once the mixture is ready fill with the meringue without smudging the colouring

v  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper

v  Pipe 1-2 inch circles onto the baking sheets about 2 inches apart

v  Bake them for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes (They should be crisp on the outside, but not hard)

Hope you all enjoy this! Until next time!

Baked Apple Dumplings

So, it’s 2013. My classes have started up again. Before I get too busy again I will post a new recipe. This is pretty tasty and super easy. My mother made these baked apple dumplings for me the other day for breakfast. I also made it for my church’s choir luncheon on Saturday and it was very well loved. This recipe is also pretty inexpensive to make as well.  It took me about an hour and a half to make so they go along pretty quickly.  

Ingredients

·        4 large baking apples

·        The juice of 2 lemons

·        2 cups of sugar

·        1 cup of butter, not margarine

·        16 fluffy buttermilk biscuits from a can (you know those things that you pull the paper and it pops open

·        2/4 teaspoons of vanilla extract (Not imitation vanilla!)

·        8 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

·        2 cups of water

·        1 bowl of water

Directions

·        Preheat your oven to 375⁰F

·        Peel and core your apples and then slice them into 8 slices, if possible use one of those apple slicer/corers to do this

·        Take your bowl of water and mix the lemon juice into it

·        Place your apple slices in this bowl of water (This keeps your apples from turning brown and you can do this with apples for fruit trays as well)

·        Mix 2 cups of water,  1 ½ cups of sugar, the butter, and vanilla in a large saucepan to make a simple syrup

·        Using medium heat bring this mixture to a boil

·        While this is boiling wrap each slice of apple in one of the biscuits and pinch the ends and seams together

·        In two separate 9x12x2 inch baking dish, or one that is twice that size, place the wrapped apples  with the long seams facing the bottom

·        Mix the rest of the sugar with the cinnamon and set aside

·        Pour the hot simple syrup over the apples and sprinkle the sugar cinnamon mixture over the top

·        Bake in for about 35 minutes or until they are golden brown

These particular dumplings are best served warm. However, they are pretty good cold with coffee too. Hope you enjoy!

Otoe Pumpkin & Corn Recipe

Here is a recipe that is very near and dear to my heart. This recipe is a traditional Oto Missouria recipe. This particular recipe was first posted on my tribe's website by Linda Francis who is a member of the Owl Clan. My family is from the Coyote Clan, but this is well loved by all of the Oto Missouria Tribe. I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

1 whole fresh pumpkin (you can also use canned pumpkin, but Linda recommends fresh)
1 bag dried sweet corn (can also use fresh)
Cinnamon—to taste
Sugar—to taste

Directions: Remove seeds and "guts" from pumpkin. Cut meat from rind. Cube pumpkin meat and place pumpkin in pot on stove. Cook until soft. Boil dried sweet corn. Corn is cooked when it is soft. Once cooled, combine cooked pumpkin and corn. Add cinnamon and sugar to taste. This amount varies depending on the size of your pumpkin and your preference. Add sugar slowly. You do not want to add too much sugar so that the flavor of the pumpkin is overwhelmed by sweetness. The combination should result in a gently sweet, pumpkin combination with a pleasant spice hint. VARIATION: Another tribal member recommends using brown sugar instead of the white sugar and cinnamon. Remember that our ancestors didn’t use measuring cups and spoons. Learn to trust your own palette and experiment with the balance of flavors.

For refference here is where the recipe originally is from: Otoe Pumpikn & Corn Recipe
That would be my tribe's website so, if you want to learn more about the Oto Misouria Tribe feel free to browse around.

Polish Rice Cakes

Hello everyone!
Sorry it seems like forever since I last updated. I've been super busy! At least things have slowed down quite a bit and I can now update regularly again. I hope. Anyways, to get things back to running in a fairly normal fashion, I will share with you a recipe that I adore like it's nobody's buisness. This is a delightful recipe that I aquired over in Europe a few years back for Polish style rice cakes. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of white rice, preferable long grain, but if all you have is short grain that will work as well.
• 6 cups of milk, I prefer soy milk, but you can also use regular milk
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 cup of butter. It has to be real butter! The fake stuff doesn't work on this recipe because it will not cook right.
• 8 ounces of
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Not immitation! The recipe tasts funny if you use the immitation vanilla
• 1 cup of self rising flour
• 1/2 cup of raisins. You can leave these out or substitute them for another small dried fruit like cranberries if you like

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F
• Grease a 9"x13" glass baking pan
• In a saucepan; mix rice, milk, and salt
• Stir frequently and cook until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice
• Remove from heat
• In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and Neufchâtel cheese
• In a seperate bowl mix eggs, vanilla, and half-and-half
• Stir egg mixture into the cream mixture making sure to mix well
• Add in the rice and mix well
• Mix flour in making sure that it is well blended
• If raisins or dried fruit is being used stir them in
• Pour batter into the baking pan
• Make sure that you get as many of the air bubbles out as you can. An easy way to do this is to pour half in and then pat the top with a large wooden spoon and repeate with the other half of the batter
• Bake for 1 hour
• After taking it out of the oven let it set for at least one hour before serving

Kolache

Hello again everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. I have been ridiculously busy with school and the like. I am back again and I will try to post something at least once a week. In celebration of spring I will be posting a lovely Czech recipe for a delicious pastry that most people know as a kolache.  In Czech it is called a koláč.  For people who have no idea what they are, think of a jelly doughnut, or this.

That is also a kolache. A highly decorated kolache, but a kolache none the less. Looks tasty! Today I will share my recipe with you all. I hope you enjoy. Keep in mind that this recipe makes about 70 of them. I have a huge family and require huge recipes to cook for them.

Ingredients

 2 ½  cups warm milk
 1 ½ (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
 ½ cup white sugar
 ½ cup shortening
 1 tablespoon sea salt
 2 eggs
 2 egg yolks
 6 ½ cups unbleached flour
 ½ cup fruit preserves of your choice

Directions

1.       Pour warm milk over the yeast, and let dissolve completely

2.       Add sugar, shortening, sea salt, eggs, egg yolks, and flour

3.       Stir until completely combined

4.       Remove the dough and place in a well-oiled bowl

5.       Turn once in the bowl to coat the surface with oil

6.       Cover bowl with a towel and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled (this takes about an hour)

7.       Spoon out dough with a spoon and roll into ball and set on baking sheet

8.       Brush the tops with shortening and let rise until doubled once again

9.       Flatten the balls and make a depression in the centers with the back of a spoon

10.   Pre-heat your oven to 375°F

11.   Fill the depressions with whatever fruit preserves you have chosen and allow to rise once again

12.   Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned

Molasses Cookies

Since it has been finals week and I’ve had so many papers to write. I am a bit behind. So, to make it up to you all I will be posting the recipes now. I have them all typed up, but I just haven’t had time to post them. As such, the introductions will be almost non-existent.  I will, however, post them under the days they were supposed to be posted. Here is today’s: Molasses Cookies! They are super delicious. I hope you enjoy them!

Ingredients

·         3/4 cup sugar

·         2/3 cup softened butter

·         1/4 cup orange or lemon juice

·         1/2 cup dark corn syrup

·         1/2 cup dark molasses

·         4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

·         2 teaspoons ground ginger

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

·         1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

·         1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions

·         In a bowl, cream sugar and butter

·         Blend in orange or lemon juice, corn syrup and molasses

·         Combine the dry ingredients before adding to creamed mixture

·         Mix well

·         Chill overnight

·         Roll out the dough to about ¼ in

·         Cut into shapes

·         Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets

·         Bake at 350 degrees F for 14 minutes