Thursday, July 16, 2009

Beverage - Tea Sangria

Tea Sangria

This is a tasty beverage and great to take to a party where people are going to be telling you come on , just have a drink or 2, you'll be OK. Take a wine glass and they'll think your drinking wine or sangria.

Ingredients:

4 cups boiling water
5 teabags, either English or Scottish breakfast tea
2 cups sliced fresh fruit, any assortment ( we even sometimes use can tropical fruit, it works fine )
2 Tbs. sugar
2 cups white grape juice

Boil the water and measure the quantity needed, add the teabags and let it brew. Than pour into a pitcher, add the sugar and stir to dissolve and add the grape juice. Next put the pitcher in the refrigerator to cool down. When it's cool add the fruit and return to the refrigerator so that it has plenty of time to get cold. Serve in sangria glasses.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Recipe - Blueberry Low Fat Muffins


Blueberry Low Fat Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup oat bran
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
6 oz. blueberry low fat yogurt
1 Tbs. sour cream lite
2 Tbs. milk, fat free
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl add the flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and sugar, stir to blend. Now add the yogurt, sour cream, milk, egg whites and vanilla and stir to incorporate everything so as to moisten all of the dry ingredients. Next fold in the blueberries. This batter is thick, it is not a pourable batter. You'll have to use to spoons, one to push it off the other spoon. I use the silicon muffin cups and insert into the opening of the muffin tin, but you can use the muffin tin without the inserts. If you use the tin only fill the openings 3/4 full, if you use the silicon inserts, fill to the top. My baking time is 30 minutes for the silicon inserts, for the tin it will be less, maybe around 20 to 25 minutes. When done remove the muffins and check doneness with a toothpick. Let them cool for around 10 minutes before removing them from the tin or silicon cups.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Recipe - Gruyere Stuffed Sourdough Mini Loaves


Gruyere Stuffed Sourdough Mini Loaves


Ingredients:


Dough

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. instant yeast
1 cup plus 2 Tbs. warm water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano, dried
1 tsp. basil, dried
1/2 tsp. garlic garnie
1 1/4 cups starter


Filling

1 tsp. oregano, dried
1 tsp. basil, dried
1/2 tsp. garlic garnie
10 oz. Gruyere cheese, grated


Dough: Combine the flour, yeast, water, salt, oregano, basil, garlic garnie and the starter and stir with a wooden spoon to begin and once you have it tightening up, spray your hands with a little cooking spray and start kneading until you have everything worked in and it feels smooth. Now spray a bowl and place the dough in it and cover with a clean towel leaving a little opening, so that it's not tight fitting. Let it rise until it doubles in size, which might be anywhere from 1 to 2 hours or more if it's cold weather.

Once it's doubled, lay it on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and stretch the dough to fit the tray. Drizzle a little water on the dough and sprinkle the oregano, basil and garlic garnie over the dough. Next spread the cheese across the dough as evenly as you can. Now use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife and cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Next take four layer cake pans and spray with cooking oil. After that take one piece of the dough at a time and pull the sides up to try and make a ball and put into one of the cake pans. You don't have to seal the ball of dough completely, if it has an opening, some of the cheese will run up and down the loaf giving it a nice crusty cheesy texture. Repeat this for the other 3 pieces of dough, to end up with 4 loaves. Cover these with a piece of handy wrap loosely and let rise till doubled again, 1 to 2 hours. Just before the dough is ready, turn the oven on to 425 degrees and let it preheat. When the oven is ready, remove the handy wrap and drizzle a little water over each loaf. Place in the oven and bake for about 18 to 25 minutes. The variation is due to oven differences. When their golden brown, remove from the oven and put them on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. You can serve these right away warm or you can freeze these with no problem. I make 4 loaves and keep one out for that day and freeze the other 3 loaves. I usually take them out of the freezer in the morning of the day that i want them for dinner.




Recipe - Sourdough Bread Starter

Sourdough Bread Starter

Ingredients:

2 cups water, ( 105 degrees )
1 tsp. sugar
1 pk. dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour

In a glass bowl, add, sugar, yeast, flour and than gradually add the water while stirring to come up with a batter. Cover the container with a clean cloth and let it sit in a warm place ( between 70 - 80 degrees ). Bubbles will start appearing. You need to stir the, mixture once a day for 4 to 5 days. Once it is covered with bubbles, you'll need to feed it every day if your leaving it on the counter. You do that by removing a cup of the starter and discarding it or giving it to a friend, than add 1 cup of flour and one cup of water ( 105 degrees ) and stir and let it sit on the counter for approximately 2 hours. You can than bake with it, refrigerate it or let it sit on the table ( if you do let it sit on the table, you'll have to repeat the feeding the next day ). If you keep your starter in the refrigerator, you have to take it out of the fridge, let it come to room temperature over night, than add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water ( 105 degrees ) and let it sit for about six hours, than you can use it to bake your bread. Than you have to replace the amount of starter you used. If you used a cup, than you add a cup of flour a cup of water and stir, let sit for about 4 hours and than back into the refrigerator until the next time or when it needs to be fed. The starter if not being used for baking, it will need to be pulled out of the fridge about every 4 days and fed ( 1 cup flour & 1 cup of water, stir and let sit ), before returning it to the fridge. If you forget about your starter for awhile, you'll need to add a cup of flour and water and sit on the counter for a day and you'll need to repeat that for 3 or 4 days until it gets back to strength. If you know that your not going to be using it for awhile because your on a business trip or vacation, put it in the freezer and pull it out 2 days before you want to use it, let it defrost than feed it and let it sit over night. If your starter gets a pinkish color, throw it away and start all over making a new starter. Yes a starter is a lot of work, but i think it's worth it in the long run. My wife doesn't think it's worth it to her, but she says, if you don't mind doing it, than i don't mind eating the bread. This starter can be used for any bread calling for a starter. I use it in my sourdough breads, my Amish dessert breads, etc.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Recipes - misc

Cumberland Sausage

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork shoulder
3/4 oz. rusk, crumbled up ( or toast, that you bake in the oven to dry out, don't let it burn )
1 Tbs. salt
1 1/2 Tbs, black pepper, ground
1 Tbs. sage, dried
2 Tbs. oregano, dried
1 Tbs. mace, ground
3/4 tsp. nutmeg, ground
1 tsp. white pepper, ground ( if you don't have, increase the black pepper )
1/2 tsp. dextrose ( it's a sugar, if you can't find, substitute other sugar )
1/2 cup ice cubes

Wash your casings if your doing links rather than patties. Than soak in salted water overnight. Rinse before using to wash off the salt water.
Mix all dry ingredients and set aside. If your buying your meat ground from the butcher ask for a medium grind. If your grinding it yourself, grind it the first time adding 1 cup of the ice cubes to the meat, grind with the coarse attachment, than add all of the dry ingredients. Now add the remaining ice cubes and grind it the 2nd time with a medium attachment. You don't want a fine grind because Cumberland sausages have a coarser grind than most sausages. Before stuffing the mix into casings or making patties, break off a small piece and fry it up and taste it to see if you need to adjust the seasonings. When ready use your stuffing attachment and stuff the casings and twist about every 6 inches to make your links or make into patties. Either wrap and freeze or put into the fridge until your ready to prepare today or tomorrow. posted 7/8/09


Lorne Sausage ( also known as square sausage or steak slice )

Ingredients:

2 1/4 lbs. ground beef ( i use 75/25 or 80/20 )
4 oz. rusk soaked
1/2 lb. water
2 oz. rusk dry
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper, ground
3 tsp. oregano, dried
2 tsp. thyme, dried
2 tsp. sage, dried
1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, ground
3 tsp. coriander, ground
2 tsp.onion powder
1/2 tsp. barbecue rub ( i use my own, but you can use Paul Prudhomme's or others )

For your rusk, if you can't find it in the store or if your like me, you just want to make your own. Cut the crust off and weight the bread to get a total of 6 oz. Put the bread in a low oven and bake until their dried out, but not burn. Take 4 oz. of the rusk, and break into small pieces about the size of a pea. Pour the water over the rusk and set aside to let it absorb the water. Rusk should be able to absorb twice its own weight. The other 2 oz. of rusk crumble up to make crumbs, but not as fine as store bought crumbs and set aside. Put all of the spices into a small bowl and mix together to blend and set aside. Now take a cookie sheet, spray it with cooking spray and crumble up the ground beef and spread it across the sheet. Next sprinkle the spices over the beef as evenly as you can and then the crumbled dry rusk and last the moist rusk. Take a loaf pan and put handy wrap going the long way and another piece the short way, so that the pan is completely covered, with a little over hang all around and set aside. Now work your meat to incorporate the spices and rusk into it, but don't over work it. After that put the meat into the loaf pan and press the meat mixture down into all the corners and pack it down. Take the over hang handy wrap and bring it up and over the meat mixture so that it's completely covered and place it in the freezer for about two hours so that it can set up. Once it's cold enough use the handy wrap to easily lift the sausage out and put it on a cutting board. Take a sharp knife and spray it with cooking spray and start slicing the sausage into about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick slices and set them on wax paper. Periodically you'll have to wipe the knife and spray it again, to keep it from sticking. After it's all sliced, put each slice into a sandwich bag and once that is done, put the bags in the freezer, laying flat for about an hour, so that they set back up. Than put as many as will fit in a large freezer bag and into the freezer. Doing it this way they don't break up on you. Now whenever you want a sausage you can pull out just one or 2 or how ever many you want. When your ready to make them, put on a hot griddle sprayed with cooking spray and cook through. posted 7/9/09

Friday, July 3, 2009

Books

Books: All books available thru: International Art and Gift Market
5306 East Dr.
Baltimore, Md. 21227
410-242-8399 or email: jwvv2@yahoo.com



Hometown Favorites
A Taste of Maryland
By Jim Vain and Friends

cost: $ 7.50 plus shipping $ 4.00
copies available: 50 NEW
condition: excellent



Getaways For Gourmets In The Northeast
By Nancy and Richard Woodworth
A Guide to Dining and Lodging
USED 1 copy available
cost $ 4.00 plus shipping $ 4.00
condition: good


Food
True Stories of Eating Around The World
USED 1 copy available
cost $ 4.00, plus shipping $ 4.00
condition: good


Karen Brown"s
England, Wales & Scotland
Charming Hotels & Itineraries
USED 1 copy available
cost $ 4.00, plus shipping $ 4.00
condition: good


More Top Secret Recipes
By Todd Wilbur
Used 1 copy
cost $ 2.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: good


Classic Country Pubs
By Neil Hanson
Used 1 copy
cost $ 3.00, plus shipping $ 4.00
condition: good


Gifts In A Jar
For The Slow Cooker
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent

Gifts In A Jar
Bar's and Brownie's
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Gifts In A Jar
Muffins & Breads
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Gifts In A Jar
Soups
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Gifts In A Jar
One Dish Meals
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Gifts In A Jar
Cakes & Cobbler's
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Gifts In a Jar
Cookies
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent



Gifts In A Jar
Cocoa's, Cappuccino's, Coffees & Teas
New 1 copy
cost $ 7.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Red Hats
Purple Shoes & Afternoon Teas
Recipes for when Red Hatters gather
New 1 copy
cost $ 8.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Red Hats
Purple Shoes and Pink Elephants
The Red Hatters guide to cocktails, food & fun
New 1 copy
cost $ 8.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent



Red Hat book
Fancy Schmancy
Entertaining Made Easy
New 1 copy
cost $ 8.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Red Hat book
Chocolate Is Cheaper Than Therapy
and you don't need an appointment
New 1 copy
cost $ 8.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent


Red Hat book
Dessert First!
Life's Uncertain...Eat Dessert First!
New 1 copy
cost $8.00, plus shipping $ 3.00
condition: excellent

Recipes - Sandwiches

Baltimore Crab Dog

Ingredients:

1 bottle of beer ( your favorite - i use Genesee )
2 hot dogs
2 hot dog buns
4 crab cakes ( store bought or make your own ahead of time )
Old Bay Seasoning
1 can Pam spray
coleslaw ( store bought or make your own ahead of time )

Put the hot dogs in a pan and pour the beer over them. Bring the beer to a boil and than lower and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Take two of the crab cakes and mold into one and shape into an oblong shape like a hot dog, repeat with the other two crab cakes. Now lay a hot dog ( dry the dog ) on top of each crab cake and fold the crab cake around the hot dog to encase it. Sprinkle them with Old Bay and lay on a sprayed oven pan and put under the broiler to cook the crab cake and brown them. Turn after a few minutes to brown the other side. Meanwhile toast the buns and slather with some mustard. When the crab dogs are ready, put each one on a bun and top with some coleslaw. Serves 2