Alfredo Sauce

I don't know why anyone would buy Alfredo sauce in a jar.  This recipe is easy, about ten times more tasty, and probably less unhealthy (I'm not claiming that it's healthy, okay?) than that stuff in a jar, which is chock-full of trans fats and preservatives.

If you want authentic Alfredo, you can't go wrong with this recipe.  It goes perfectly with Spicy Chicken Romano Pasta.

Huckleberry Cream Muffins

If you've never had huckleberries . . . I'm sorry. Just know that blueberries, which I do love and which you can substitute for huckleberries, pale in comparison. These muffins are in my top five favorite.

When I made these this morning, I had about a cup of very thick kefir (Click here for my What is Kefir? post) to use in place of a cup of the sour cream.  I did happen to have another cup of sour cream, but if I hadn't, I would have just used milk.  I've used kefir + milk several times and, though it makes the batter slightly less thick, it still makes a delicious muffin.

Want some kefir of your own?  Come on over and I'll give you some!

Huckleberries . . . mmmmmm.  They are so packed with flavor
that you use half as many as you would blueberries.

My friend Cori gave me this square muffin pan that she bought at Orson Gygi--don't be jealous!  It's one of my favorite cooking accoutrements . . . the shape is fun, of course, but the pan itself is so well-made and heavy duty.

I love this recipe because it makes so many muffins.  Today I got 33 muffins, and plan to freeze at least a dozen, so I can thaw a few whenever I need a little something extra to go with my oatmeal or Cream o' Wheat.

White Bean Chili

This is what it looks like outside where I live, right now.

This is what it looks like inside.

This is my favorite chili, and it's great for cold winter days.  Shout out to my fabulous college roommate, Valerie my Palerie, for this recipe!

In the picture above, I used one can of pinto beans in place of a can of white (Great Northern) beans, because that's all I had.  I coated two skin-on, bone-on chicken breasts with the cumin and grilled them on my Foreman Grill, then discarded the skin and shredded the chicken into the simmering beans.  It was delicious--and the grated Monterey Jack cheese gave it just the right amount of extra warmth.

The bread is from the loaf of ciabatta I made today, which only took me about five minutes of prep-work, since I used refrigerated artisan bread dough.  I just posted those recipes below.   

Artisan Bread: boule (basic dough recipe)

If you only buy one cookbook this year, buy this one.

You can read about this very recipe and more on the authors' website.  I borrowed my dad's copy of the book, and need to buy my own before his gets completely covered in sticky dough spots on my favorite pages. . .

But, you lucky blogstalkers, you, I am slowly but surely making the recipes from this book into recipe cards, for the selfsame reason of floury pages: recipe cards are cleaner and more accessible.

I usually make baguettes or ciabatta with this recipe.  And after you use all of your refrigerated dough (it usually makes enough four loaves), you don't clean out the container--just mix another batch of dough and dump it in to cultivate some wee yeastie beasties . . . the bread gets more and more of an authentic sourdough taste.

You'll understand the history, process, and chemistry of baking artisan bread if you read the book, and I do think that reading about all of these things gives you an edge in baking the breads that the authors describe--plus there are pictures.  But in the mean time, here is the recipe card for one of the "master recipes."  This is the simplest one, and the one I use the most, along with the flatbread and olive oil dough recipe.

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

I remade this recipe card this morning because A) I gave away my hard copy a few months ago and needed to print another one out, B) I thought the directions needed a little tweaking, and C) If I am going to be making pancakes, I may as well take pictures to upload to the pancake post, right?

Here is the old card:

This is the old card--scroll down to print the new one.

*I plan on doing an upcoming post about kefir: a probiotic gem (I can't say kefir without saying "probiotic gem" because that is the qualifier my dad invariable added when he first educated me about the sundry and beautiful benefits of kefir).  Stay tuned. (Click here for my What is Kefir? post).

Can you even stand how cute she is?
Mollie loves three-inch pancakes the most.

This is one of my favorite foods to let my kids help with, because there's not much chance of a huge mess, and they really can do all of the steps themselves: it's a great recipe to get your kids confident about cooking.  Here is a video clip I took of my six-year-old cracking a double-yolker from one of our chickens into the pancake batter a few months ago.  My favorite part is how he says, "Blast OFF" at the end of his countdown.

And my three-year-old helped with the pancakes this morning.  She loves to whisk.  (Before my sisters leave comments about how wretched her hair looks, let me just admit to the entire World Wide Web, right here and now, that I am much better at cooking than I am at doing hair).

Here is the new and improved card.

Ultimate Cinnamon Buns

If Cook's Country has any kind of "ultimate" recipe, then you can be assured you need to look no further.  It's my very favorite cooking magazine, and where I got this recipe from (the only thing I changed was the amount of brown sugar in the filling--they called for one-and-a-half cups of brown sugar, but that was too sweet for me, so I cut it back to one.  Ever health-conscious, that's me).

I wanted to remember to take pictures of these as I made them, and I did a pretty good job at getting the dough and filling, and the rolled up buns before they started to rise . . .

But after they came out of the oven, all thoughts of photography fled . . . I just started eating.  My kids and I were mostly done with our first buns when I remembered that I should have taken a picture.  So I took this picture.  I suppose a forensic investigator could learn something about my occlusion by studying the bites I'd already taken . . .

And then I went back to the pan and took this picture.  It's missing a few buns . . .

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  I sure do.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Pyramids

One of my favorite desserts, from one of my favorite people!  If I had an "impressive" category on the sidebar, this recipe would be at the top of the list.  I mean, just look at the picture.

That's the picture from the original recipe in Woman's Day, and here are my pictures:

Also, you can't go wrong with the words "triple" and "chocolate" next to one another.  Juxtaposition of joy, people.

Wonton Salad

It's fun to eat wonton croutons instead of boring old bread croutons.  And I love any salad with a spinach/strawberry combo.

Whole Wheat Bread

This is my "other favorite" whole wheat bread recipe, after Satiny WhWhB.  It makes a lot more loaves and requires fewer "specialty" ingredients.  When it says use "4-8 additional cups whole wheat flour," I usually use five.  Just don't try to make this without a heavy-duty kitchen mixer.  Your arm might fall off.
 

Texas Sheetcake: Allen Style

This cake is one of my husband, Allen's, specialties.  My sisters always ask him to make it when they come for a visit.  It really is the moistest, chocolatiest, most yummiest cake around.  The only such cake that could prompt me to use a grammatically incorrect double superlative without pause.

But Allen doesn't make it in a cookie sheet pan, like most people do.  He makes it in a 9x13 casserole dish, which is what helps make the cake so dense and moist.  And he added cinnamon, whole wheat flour, and some extra chocolate to the recipe . . . all winners.

Allen has made this cake so many times that you'd think he could whip one out in no time.  But that hubby o' mine is nothing if not slow thorough.  All of my sisters know that it will be at least a three-hour wait, from start to finish, when they ask him to please make it.  But that's part of its charm.

Al usually asks me to make the frosting, because I'm a bit better judge of a good frosting consistency.  It's pretty basic: 1 melted half cup of butter, 1/3 cup of cocoa, 3 cups of powdered sugar, a splash of vanilla and a splash of whole milk.  It's hard to wait until the cake is cool to frost it.

Enjoy!

Texas Caviar

Um, hello.  That's what your mouth says the first time you taste this "dip."  I'm not going to lie, sometimes this is a meal for me.  Everyone asks for the recipe--it is a summertime (meal time, chore time, supper time too . . . name that musical) essential.

Sweet & Saucy Meatballs with Rice

This is my favorite thing that my sister Ali makes--it's such an amazing flavor combination!  The meatballs are sweet, so kids love it, too.

Swedish Meatballs

This is a great dish when you want to break away from making the same old thing.

Sticky Buns

So easy, and so yummy.  Stock up on frozen rolls, because you won't be able to make these only once.

Spinach Enchiladas

Leave out the chicken and these are delicious vegetarian enchiladas.  This recipe is especially yummy with my homemade speedy enchilada sauce.

Speedy Enchilada Sauce

I never buy enchilada sauce, because 1- this stuff is easy to make and I always have the ingredients on hand, and 2- I don't make enchiladas often enough to justify buying enchilada sauce.

Of course, it's not surprising that a homemade sauce tastes so much more delicious.  It's yummy with my spinach enchilada recipe.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I rarely make my own spaghetti sauce, but when I do, this recipe can't be beat.  However, I always use this meatball recipe--it is my very favorite way to eat spaghetti (it's also yummy with ground turkey in place of the ground beef).  My two boys don't like meatballs, but I never mind, because that means MORE FOR ME..