Baked Brie - An Indulgence Fit for a Speedbo-er

It's springtime in North Texas!

We spent part of the weekend planting flowers. Saturday was absolutely perfect. One of those days that beckoned you to drop everything else and get outside.

Even my irises are in bloom.

A few years back, on one of my visits to Ouray, Colorado, we joined a friend at the historic Beaumont Hotel for dinner and did what often do. Made a meal out of appetizers. 

On this occasion, my friend said, "You have to try to fried Brie."

Fried Brie?

Well, it involves Brie, so sign me up.

Oh. My. Word.

The cheese was basted in honey, then coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried to melty, gooey perfection. 

Well, I have yet to attempt fried brie, however, with that amazing recipe in mind, I've come up with a baked Brie that is almost as good.

It's very difficult, though, so pay close attention.

Here's what you'll need:

Brie and honey.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Place cheese round/wedge on a baking sheet (I highly recommend lining said baking sheet with parchment for easy cleanup) and drizzle with honey.

Bake until cheese is melting, 5-6 minutes.

You can serve this with fruit--apple wedges are good--or crackers. I prefer a water cracker, simply because they have no taste, so they let the flavor of the cheese and honey shine through. 

Or, you could just dig in with a spoon, but only if you're alone.

Imagine spending hours hunched over the computer to reach your daily Speedbo word count, then rewarding yourself for a job well done.

Sounds like motivation to me. ;-)

Happy Speedbo-ing!

Speedbo Recipe Re-run: Baked Parmesan Chicken

This is an anniversary of sorts. Three years ago this month I received a fabulous present from my UPS man - the author copies of my first book. I can't describe the feeling of opening a box of books (Oh, don't you love that fragrant aroma of ink and paper!) and finding your name on the cover of every. single. copy.

"The Prodigal Son Returns" is still available in digital format.Just click on this caption to head over to Amazon.

March is also Speedbo time - a time when a lot of writers attempt to write a novel in a month. Very similar to NaNoWriMo...but in the spring. And you set your own goals. You can read about (and even join!) this year's Speedbo here.

When you get that many writers working as hard as they can to produce the best book that they can...well...sometimes their families suffer. Laundry languishes in the hampers. Library books are always overdue. And meals? Forget it!

That is, unless you pre-plan a few scrumptious, quick dinners that your family will love. :)

In honor of Speedbo 2016, I'm sharing this post from Speedbo 2013. And yes, this dish is on our family menu this week!

 Quick Prep and Good Eating: Baked Parmesan Chicken

Jan here, with a quick, easy meal that most families love....
(forgive the skimpy helping of broccoli on this plate - I was at the end of the line!)

Baked Chicken Parmesan is perfect for Speedbo. It takes about 10 minutes to put it together, stick it in the oven for an hour (rack up some more words for your daily word count), and then spend about 15 minutes at the end of the hour fixing the side dishes and setting the table.

Perfect, right?

So here's the recipe:

Baked Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast for each member of your family

1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs (or bread crumbs with basil, oregano, garlic and parsley mixed in)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use the powdery kind for this dish - not the more expensive fresh)

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Step one: melt the butter - Preheat your oven to 350°. Put the butter and olive oil in a 9x13" baking dish, and put it in the oven to let the butter melt while the oven is heating up.

Step two: prepare the chicken - I buy boneless chicken breasts that are HUGE. Too big for one person. So I cut them in half top to bottom, making two nice sized chicken breasts half as thick as the original.

Step three: prepare the crumb mixture - Measure the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and garlic onto a plate and mix with a fork.

Check the oven - is your butter melted?

Step four: with tongs or a fork, coat the chicken on both sides with the butter/olive oil, then dredge in crumbs/cheese mixture, then place in the baking dish.

Step five: bake - cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for 30 minutes more.

And you're done!

If you want to make the prep even quicker, coat the chicken in the butter/olive oil, and then sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the chicken.

This same recipe is also great for chicken nuggets. Just cut the chicken breasts into chunks, put the crumbs in a bag, put your chicken chunks in and shake. Arrange evenly in a greased baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve with pasta tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese, your favorite vegetable and a salad.

And for dessert? Ice cream, of course, from your favorite local ice cream parlor. Our fav,Armadillos, just opened for the season last week! The sherbet flavor of the day is Lemon today, but I always get chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone...how can you go wrong with chocolate?

Carrot Pineapple Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi everybody!! I saw a delicious recipe for carrot cake on The Food Charlatan blog and thought I'd try it, with a few modifications. So, let's start!

First step: contemplation of our goal.

 

So, in the original recipe it calls for two cups toasted pecans, flavored oil (no idea what that is, I just used normal oil), and sour cream (I used Greek yoghurt because we had some).

I also put in twice as much pineapple. That was an accidental modification and I'd recommend just the normal amount of pineapple because then I had to add more flour.

So:

     1 cup white sugar

    1 cup brown sugar

   1 cup oil

     1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I think this really made a difference in the flavor, YUM)

   2 teaspoons vanilla

    4 eggs

    8 ounces crushed pineapple, with juice

Whisk together:

    2 cups flour, spooned and leveled

   2 teaspoons baking soda

   2 teaspoons baking powder

  1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

                                        

Fold in:

   3 cups grated carrots. I had a bag of grated carrots, but it really seemed like the pieces were way too big so we ended up chopping them)

   1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (I was out of pecans and almost out of walnuts. Next time I'll use the two whole cups because I loved the crunch and there wasn't quite enough for the amount of pineapple.)

For the frosting:
The original recipe calls for 1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted. I just couldn't see pecans in my frosting so I left them out. :P
3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) salted butter, soft
1 and 1/2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, soft (12 ounces total)
4 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons real maple syrup (I used Grade A)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons maple extract
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
nuts and carrots for garnish

Instructions: preheat over to 350F.

 

 

Whisk all the dry ingredients.

Mix all the wet ingredients. (See all the pineapple? I still didn't clue in. Only later when I had carrot cake soup did I check my can and realize I'd used a 20 oz can instead of 8oz.)

Ednaaaaaaa!!!! She's very energetic in the spring and although it's not quite warm enough to go without a coat, she was ready to work!

 She whipped the frosting up in no time. She's a champ!

Bake for 45-50 minutes in two 9 inch cake pans. Let cool for 20 minutes, carefully release the cake from the pans and flip onto a cooling rack. When perfectly cooled, trim, frost and assemble.

 My little guys wants to decorate with the carrots and since we could just pick them off, I said, "Why not??" There... raw carrots instead of the frosting variety.

 All in all, a delicious recipe! I really liked the pineapple addition, plus the yoghurt. Very moist (probably because too much pineapple, but it still didn't fall apart) and perfect for a fun family dessert!

   And a little reminder that The Pepper In the Gumbo is free for only a little while longer! 310 four and five star reviews!  You can get it here

 

And if you've already read Book One, there's always the next in the series, plus three more, the last releasing later this month! I just loved this couple... When I reach the end of a series I always get sentimental as I look back at my first books with the first characters. *sigh*
 Happy weekend, everybody!

 

 

Turkey Tenderloins (Part 2): Leftovers!

Missy Tippens

Last week I shared a quick turkey dinner using marinated turkey tenderloins. (Click here.) But like I mentioned, we have an empty nest now. So I definitely had leftovers.

I also had most of a large can of cream of mushroom soup leftover as well, so decided to make up some sort of pasta recipe kind of like turkey tetrazzini.

First, I started boiling water for cooking the noddles. I love thin spaghetti to make the process go quicker. :)

Then I chopped 3 or 4 small carrots into small cubes. I sautéed them in some butter and olive oil. Once they'd softened a bit, I added a bag of frozen peas.

(Sorry, I didn't take photos!)

Once the vegetables were ready, I stirred in the cubed leftover turkey and let it heat through. Then I stirred in the leftover cream of mushroom soup. If you don't have leftovers, I think 1 or 2 small cans would be enough. I also added a splash of half-and-half to thin it some. It made a nice "gravy" without having to actually make gravy!

Once the noodles were cooked al dente, I added a bit of pasta water to further thin the sauce and then tossed in about half the noodles.

I ended up topping with a bit of parmesan, because, well, parmesan makes just about anything better. :)

Enjoy!

www.missytippens.com

Isabo's Cinnamon Rolls from the "Double S Ranch"and Book Giveaway!

CONGRATULATIONS TO LAST WEEK'S WINNERS, 

Nancy Connally and Connie Saunders!  Two more winners this week for a copy of "Back in the Saddle"!

There is nothing like the smell of fresh, homemade, yeasty cinnamon rolls, is there? And after volunteering at a Seattle mission, Isabo Castiglione isn't afraid to cook for a crowd, and take care of food-loving cowboys and the irascible-but-growing-more-lovable Sam Stafford, owner of the famous Double S Ranch in the Kittitas Valley of Central Washington.


My bread recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker Cookbook....

2 packets of yeast (I use 2 Tablespoons from my big pack of yeast)
3/4 cup very warm water
Mix those two things together, a marriage made in heaven!!!

Then add:

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
3 Tablespoons Crisco (shortening)
2 2/3 cup very warm water
5 cups flour


3-4 cups flour (added during kneading step)

Mix yeast and 3/4 cup water, let sit a couple of minutes to "work"... then add sugar. salt, Crisco and 5 cups bread flour.... Mix slowly at first, then raise the speed and mix well with regular beater paddle until smooth on medium speed.

Add 3-4 more cups of flour one cup at a time. I find it's usually about 8 1/2 cups altogether for a batch that makes a ton of cinnamon rolls or two nice big 9" loaves of bread. Use dough hook (kneader) to work flour into dough while you chill-lax and do your nails or something. Really, it is pretty darn easy with today's machinery.

Turn out dough onto counter. It's always good if the counter's clean. That is not a necessity, however.

Grease mixing bowl thoroughly. Put somewhat tainted dough back into mixing bowl. Flip it over or grease the top of dough, cover with towel and let rise in warm spot until almost doubled in size. (Depending on temperature this might be half-hour or an hour....)

Punch dough. (Removes latent aggressions)

Divide in half. (Permanent separation, SO SAD!!!!!)   ;)

How cute is my helper????? LOVE YOU, LOGAN!!!!

We rolled that dough out just like you see here, and then slathered it with butter...

And for this batch we then liberally sprinkled with brown sugar, and then topped with cinnamon.

Roll out one half into large rectangle about 12 x 20 inches, give or take. No need to flour table or counter, bread dough is very elastic and won't stick like pie crust.

Butter dough thoroughly by plopping butter here and there and then spreading it.  Sprinkle with about a ton of brown sugar. Then sprinkle with about 2 Tablespoons cinnamon. (I really don't measure this I just liberally sprinkle sugar and cinnamon like crazy because there's no such thing as too much of either, is there?)

Roll up dough starting from narrower end and rolling tightly....  Slice off uneven ends and then slice the cinnamon roll with a good, serrated bread knife at about 1" (one-inch) increments.

(This is where I got busy with kids and photo-op ended abruptly!!!)

When the roll is fully sliced, prepare a 9 X 13" pan by melting a stick of butter into the pan. (I just popped it into the oven until it was melted....)

Sprinkle butter liberally with BROWN sugar.....  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

Place cinnamon rolls into pan, 3 across and 4 rows....

Allow to sit (proof) for about ten minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 11-13 minutes, until just golden brown.

Turn out onto a large platter or cookie sheet, flipping pan upside down and letting all that gooey wonderful goodness just DRIP down the rolls....

Now here's the best part.... drizzle cream cheese icing over rolls while warm.

Cream Cheese Icing

4 oz (1/2 an 8 oz. block) cream cheese (do not use that pretend neufchatel stuff. I will haunt you.)
4 oz butter (do not skimp and use margarine. I mean, really??????)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 cups confectioners/powdered/10X sugar

Soften cream cheese and butter, mix well with vanilla. Add powdered sugar slowly to avoid a HUGE mess and then beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes... You want the frosting smooth... and fairly thick. If it's thin add a little more sugar.

Do not add milk or water. Please. Trust me, it's awesome this way!!!  Drizzle on cinnamon rolls. (I often make this and pop it into a freezer zip-lock bag when I have cream cheese that's sitting, opened in the fridge. It molds quickly so if no one is around to eat it making frosting with it is a great time saver when I need a quick frosting out of the freezer. Frostings are delicate, though, and they take on the scent and flavor of things around them, even in the freezer, so use it up fairly quickly. Not like the liver you've had in there since last December because it was on sale and you couldn't resist. )  :)

Eat warm or cool but there's usually never any around to get cool, and can you imagine a hard-working group of Central Washington cowboys... and hungry kids... coming inside and not jumping into something this amazing?

This is home-sweet-home, right in your hand.

And today we've got two more copies of "Back in the Saddle" to give away! "WIN IT BEFORE YOU CAN BUY IT"!  Leave me a comment and a way to get your e-mail... or friend me on facebook and I'll message you there!

Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves to write the kind of stories she loves to read... and cowboys rank high on the list. You can e-mail her at loganherne@gmail.com, visit her website or friend her on facebook where she loves to chat and play and pray with people! 

Sweeties

Hello!  It's Cate back again.

The past two weeks you've had normal food while I hosted two of my fellow LIS authors. Today you get me and the weird healthy foods again.

Just kidding.

But I do have something unusual to share -  my newest discovery and my absolute to-die for favorite fruit.

Have you ever had a Sweetie?

Oh, my word!!!! They are the most amazingly delicious fruits that no one I know has ever heard of.
(How's that for a sentence? *wink wink)


Two weeks ago my husband and I were in Costco and I saw these bags of things called Jaffa Sweeties.

I'd seen Jaffa oranges from Israel before, but these fruits were yellow and green and looked like small grapefruit. I was curious, so I bought some.








When I got home and tasted them..... I don't even know what to say but OH.SO.DELICIOUS.

They're sweeter than grapefruit and soooooooo juicy. I'm not sure I ever ate anything this juicy!

It gets even better. I looked them up online.

It turns out they are a hybrid of a pomelo and a grapefruit. Remember I introduced you to pomelos back in January? Some research that was done show that these fruits are really good at lowering cholesterol! http://www.israel21c.org/israeli-fruit-hybrid-lowers-cholesterol/

Okay - the bad news. They're only available for a very short season in winter and COSTCO is the only place I've been able to find them. :(


They're incredibly easy to peel - like an orange. They're sweet and apparently much lower in acid content than grapefruit. They're also the perfect size to eat in one sitting.

So, the big question. Apparently these have been around awhile (since at least 2004), but I've never seen them before. Have any of you ever seen or tasted a Jaffa Sweetie?

I'm hoping we can start a campaign to get more stores to carry them next winter!

My Favorite Buttercream Frosting

So last week was my birthday. And despite what many may think, I really am a very simple woman. When asked by my husband what I wanted for my birthday meal, I said, "Brie, cupcakes and champagne."

Don't you love it when wishes come true?

Now before you drool too much over that baked brie, that's a recipe for next week.

This week I'm focused on cupcakes. The best part of the cupcakes, that is. 

After sharing my love of cupcakes so many times, I can't believe I have not shared my recipe for buttercream frosting. The best tasting buttercream I've ever had.

Amazing that such deliciousness could come from only a few ingredients:

1 1/2 cups softened butter, salted or unsalted

4 cups sifted powdered sugar (yes, you must sift it)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Milk

First, cream your butter.

Until fluffy.

Add the vanilla and mix until blended.

Now, with your mixer on low (otherwise you'll have one huge, powdery mess), gradually add the powdered sugar.

Once all of the sugar is incorporated, mix at high speed until light and fluffy.

Add milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. If you're piping the frosting, you'll want it stiffer (less milk). If you're spreading, thinner (more milk).

If you'd like to add a little coloring, do that now.

Yep, I forced my guys to eat pink cupcakes. Not that I heard any complaints.

You can see/learn how to do the "fancy" piping here.

Easy, peasy.

So what do you want for your birthday meal?