Bean Dip

This looks similar to the bean dip that I have always made with a few interesting additions.  I think I would still dice up some jalapenos and add those as well.  Maybe also some sliced black olives.  

·         1 or 2 cans refried beans

·         4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

·         1 cup sour cream

·         1/2 cup green onions (sliced)

·         1 tablespoon chili powder

·         1/2 teaspoon paprika

·         1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         2 teaspoons cumin

·         1/2 teaspoon oregano

·         1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

·         1/4 teaspoon onion powder

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 teaspoon pepper

·         2/3 cup salsa (extra liquid drained)

·         1 4 ounce can diced green chilies (drained)

·         1 cup cheese (grated)

Directions:

1. Mix everything, reserving some of the cheese, in a large bowl.

2. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and top with the reserved cheese.

3. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until it is bubbling on the sides and golden brown on top, about 45-60 minutes.

If you prefer, you can make your own refried beans with 2 tablespoons lard or bacon grease, garlic, cumin, and chili powder to taste, and 1 or 2 cans drained pinto or black beans.  Heat the lard in a pan.  Add the beans, garlic, chili powder and cumin and cook until warm. Mash the beans until you get them to the consistency that you want. (If the beans are too thick you can add water to thin them out.)

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

• ½ cup butter
• zest from 1 large lemon
• 1 scant cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• ½ cup buttermilk (or juice from 1 lemon and add milk to make half cup)

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with a tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp butter 
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze:

• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• Juice of one lemon

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute).  Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.  With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour.  Mix only until combined.  Gently fold in the blueberries.

Scrape the batter into greased pan and bake at 350 for about 55 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice together until all blended together.  Allow loaf to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from pan and drizzle glaze over top.  

Snickerdoodle Muffins

From Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.  Looked really good, so I wanted to post it here to try later.

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp cream of tarter
• ¾ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 and ¼ cup sour cream
• 2 and ¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar and 2 TBSP cinnamon mixed together for rolling

1.Cream the butter and sugar until soft about 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.
2.In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and cream of tarter.
3.Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the egg-butter mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl occasionally.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out  muffin batter one at a time and drop into a shallow bowl filled with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Roll the muffin around in the mixture until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar.. Place muffin into a greased muffin tin.. Depending on the size of your tins, you should get about 12 to 14 muffins. Bake them for approx. 20-22 minutes in a 350F oven or until they are golden brown.

Cherry Orange jam

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a place to write down something I did so I don't forget it.  It's so delicious that I want to make sure I do it again.

We have a cherry tree in the back yard (pie cherries, not sweet cherries) and most years we don't get many cherries.  Not only that, but the birds tend to eat the ones we do get.  Well, to be fair if we made an effort we could have probably picked them but when there aren't many it's not worth the time.

This year Gary and I were in the back yard and we noticed the tree was COVERED in cherries.  We picked a nice big bowl and came inside and pitted them.  I was trying to see if I could get away with making some jam without adding much (if any) sugar, so I tried sweetening it with juice instead of table sugar.  The only kind of juice we had was orange juice, so I mixed it in (a whole can of the concentrate.)

Orange juice adds a great zing to the jam, but not enough sweetness like apple juice would, so I ended up with 10 cups of fruit to which I added 8 cups of sugar (instead of the 10 cups the recipe called for.)   I used two packages of pectin because this represented a double batch of jam.  I also added a little lemon juice and processed the jam according to the instructions on the pectin box, except when I saw it didn't look like it was gelling I boiled it longer to see if I could get it to "take."  No luck.

Jams and jellies are funny things, they are very fussy with the pectin/sugar ratio.  If you don't use the exact measurements, your jam won't gel.  Since I left out two cups of sugar, my jam did not gel.  But you know what?  I don't CARE.  The flavor of this stuff is absolutely AMAZING.  I'm not kidding, you could grab a spoon and just sit with a jar and eat it plain.  (Okay, I would end up in a coma if I did that, but a normal person could.)  Anyway, there were enough cherries left on the tree to make a second batch, and I had enough pectin to do it again, so I made an identical batch.  You can still use it as jam, it's just a bit drippy so you have to eat carefully.  It would also be amazing on waffles, and we have already had it on Swedish pancakes, it was stupendous.

If I had added the other two cups of sugar, it would have gelled perfectly, but it would have been a lot sweeter and would have totally lost that orangy/cherry zing that is so unbelievably good.  I'd rather have the perfect flavor and no gel than firm jam that's too sweet to enjoy.

I have heard of pectin that you can use with lower sugar recipes, maybe next time I'll try that.  But I won't sacrifice the flavor of this stuff.  It's perfect.  :)

Mashed Potato Salad

We made this for our 4th of July barbecue. It is nothing like the traditional potato salad, but to me is more like loaded mashed potatoes, hence the name. :)

1 5 lb bag of red potatoes

1 packet ranch dressing mix

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1 lb bacon

1/2-1 cup chopped green onions

Cut up and boil the potatoes until they are soft. While they are cooking, cut up the bacon and fry it. when it is finished, lightly sautee the green onions in some of the drippings. Drain the bacon and green onions, and put them in a bowl with the mayonnaise, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix. Add garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste, as well as a dash of cayenne pepper if you like. When the potatoes are done cooking, drain and let cool, then mix them in with the other ingredients. Serve warm or chilled. 

Pizza Muffins

This recipe was adapted from Every day with Rachael Ray

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cubed pepperoni
• 1/2 cup store-bought pizza sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

Cookie Bowls

Okay, I saw this picture and Sarah and I agree that this is an AMAZING idea... There were no instructions so you'd have to experiment but I suspect you'd cook these about as long as you'd cook any other large cookie.  Think how cute these would be filled with ice cream for a kid's party or filled with fresh fruit or a good fruit topping, with some whipped cream for a great dessert.  Use your favorite cookie recipe (though I think I'd steer clear of chocolate chips or anyting with chunks of candy in it because that would tend to melt off and leave holes.)  Form to the OUTSIDE of the greased muffin tin (cute muffin tins would make a cuter bowl but let's face it, once it's filled you'll only see so much of the "cuteness" factor anyway) and then bake.  Let cool partially before you remove from the muffin tin, then cool completely before you invert and fill.  (This is an educated guess.)

There's a bakery at the airport that serves oatmeal in the morning in a large oatmeal cookie.  Hmm...  The possibilities are endless.  You could always serve an oatmeal cookie with some applesauce in it or with a yogurt filling and serve it for breakfast too.  Pudding would also be a good filling.  Worms and dirt would work for a kids' party too.