Pumpkin Cake

With turkey day coming up I'm starting to crave all things pumpkin. From bread to pie. But in the spirit of experimenting with recipes I'm trying to create a cake recipe. First try is a old fastion base cake.

Recipe:
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Mix sugar and oil, blend in eggs. Beat on high for 1 minute. Add vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin. Blend on high for 3 minutes. In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry. Stoping to mix ever few minutes. Blend on high for 5 minutes. Grease and flour baking pans. (I like to add parchment paper to the bottom of a pan, it helps me remove the cake at the end.) Bake at 350• for 30 minutes. Be sure to insert a toothpick to test that the center is cooked.
Left you can see my batter is nice and thick. I still did the air bubble shake by shaking my pan and dropping it. (When dropping only raise it about 1 inch from surface and letting go. Don't go to high or you'll get cake batter that jumps the pan.)

For icing I decided to go with my cinnamon butter cream.
Cinnamon Icing:
1 package powder sugar
3 tbl milk
3 tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon.

Mix powder sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. While beating add one tbl of milk at a time until a thick creamy constancy is reached. You can add less or more milk to get the constancy you want.

Cool cake, frost and serve. My family enjoyed it with milk and a good movie.

-FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Pork Drank The Coke-A-Cola

While surfing the web I can across a Naked Boneless Pork Chop recipe. The creator recommended marinating the pork in an acid base such as orange juice, wine, beer, or Coke-A-Cola. Now I've tried wine as a marinade on pork and it was surprisingly good. Moist and tender with a great robust flavor. So thinking healthy I looked in my refrigerator for a marinade base. Would you believe all I had was Cola. So throwing cation to the wind I gave it a try.

Recipe:
1 cup coke-a-cola
1 cup water
1 tbs dried herbs (I used Italian Blend)
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1 gallon ziplock bag
4 boneless pork chops

Marinade 5-8 hours in refrigerator. Pull straight from bag onto a grill. I use my handy Forman Grill for 7 minutes on a thine cut chop and 10 on the thick.

Served with chive mashed potatoes and small dinner rolls and you get a great meal. The pork had a great sweet moist taste that I had never tasted before. But the best seller was watching my picky eater down the meat in less then two minutes. If your like me and your willing to be a dare devil give this a try. Taste Tester Note: The pork was nice and tender with a sweet sausage taste to eat. It's defenitly a new way to serve pork.
FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Experiment cookie day. Today's choice. Alton Browns iced sugar cookie.

Recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tbs milk
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder

Mix wet ingredients. Mix dry. Combine. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll. Cut. Cook 375 for 10 minutes. Ice and eat.

My families rating was 4 stars. Lite on sugar taste for me. But overall pretty good.


- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Halloween!

When I think Halloween I think candy. Maybe it's the joy of remembering a childhood filled with make believe costumes, running from house to house, and most of all the sugar high that I had as a kid that made Halloween my favorite part of Fall. This year I was determined that my two rug rats were going to experience the joy of Halloween. From great costumes to trick-or-treat. They would enjoy the time.

What I didn't realize was how much I chewed off. You might be asking yourself what she saying. You get a costume, a bag, and run crazy right? Yes that's what you do. Only for me a cheap store bought costume wasn't going to cut it. My son and daughter deserved quality. So off I went to the fabric store to get material for them. Boy did that start my headache.

At the store I couldn't find a single costume pattern to satisfy my kids taste or mine. So I resolved to make my own. For my son, a star wars outfit that any Jedi would love. For my daughter, a trick-or-treat fairy made of candy/halloween prints. After trial an error and many many hours my kids and I were satisfied.

Today they wore there homemade costumes at the churches Trunk-or-treat. They had a blast. Hit a huge sugar high. And overall made a memory of a great Halloween. The hours spent was so worth their joy.

- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bean & Pork Stew Please

Ok here's a radical stew for an adventure.
Prep time is a little intense but the flavor is nice and mellow. Major hint soak beans over night. The texture will be a little better.

Bean & Pork Stew Recipe:
1 package beans (I love 16 bean melody)
1 pork jowl cubed
1 pound pork stew meat
1 onion cubed
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 clove chopped garlic

Soak beans overnight. Drain, rinse, and add to stock pan. Add water or beef broth for richer taste. Season and Bring to boil. Cube and lightly brown the pork jowl add to boiling beans. Leave grease in pan. Add pork stew meat, onions, and garlic to grease and brown. For added flavor I like to season stew meat with salt and pepper before browning. Add meat, garlic, and even grease to stock pan. Boil stew for 40 minutes. Optional vegetables:
1 cup cubed carrots
1 cup cubed potatoes
1 cup cubed squash
1 cup cubed zucchini

Added vegetables need more beef broth, but overall taste pretty good. But I'd suggest using kidney or lima beans only. Mixed beans just don't taste right. For added spice I love adding paprika and white pepper.

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Christmas Craft Anyone?

I know it's not even Halloween yet but it's time to start my Christmas crafting. I've started with my Victorian Lace Bulb. This might seam simple but it takes time. It starts with a 40 count triple threaded circle. After that I use a technique called circular netting. Shown below:As you can see I prefer to stitch on the bulb. I chose a nice Christmas red highlighted with Christmas green and light green. It's a nice color combination on a clear bulb. Shown below:


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My Fall Cookie

If you feel like a cookie monster in need of a fix try my Fall Sugar Cookie. Warning this recipe makes 4 dozen irresistible cookies. Don't eat them all in one setting. They will give you a tummy ache.


Fall Sugar Cookies:
1 cup butter flavored shorting
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Decorating sugar
Optional 1 tsp orange zest & 1/2 tsp imitation orange or lemon flavoring

Combine eggs and butter till smooth and creamy. Add sugar, vanilla, and orange flavor. Blend till smooth again. In separate bowl shift flour, salt, and soda. Combine with wet mixture. Blend well. Add orange zest. In a bowl combine decorating sugar and plain sugar. Drop I small spoon fool of dough in sugar. Roll around till all sides are covered. Place on lined baking sheet. Bake at 350• for 13 minutes. Cool and eat.

Submarine Rolls, Anyone

I've been asked by a friend to re-share my wheat/white submarine bread recipe. Start with you bread machine pan and add in order of wet to dry, and salty to sweet.

White/wheat submarines:
1 cup hot milk (I nuke mine for 2 minutes in a big measuring cup since it can bubble over.)
2 tbs butter
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 cup wheat
2 cups whole grain white flour
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp gluten
3 tsp quick rise yeast

Add hot milk, butter, egg to pan. Fold in salt and wheat. Let sit 15 minutes as wheat needs to be moistened or it makes horribly dry bread. You can add honey here if you desire. A few bakers have stated that it helps the wheat taste better. After the rest period gently pour the flour on top insuring all corners of pan are covered. Make a well add gluten and brown sugar. Add yeast to the well. Put bread pan in your machine and select dough cycle. Check your dough in the middle of the mix cycle. It should look like a ball of sticky wet play-dough. If it looks wet add 1tbs of white flour. If to dry add tbs of water. Keep repeating until it looks right. After the machine completes the first rise cycle take the pan out. Invert it over a floured surface. Don't over work it but gently shape it into a 2/3 inch thick log that has a width comparable to the length of the subs you want. With a sharp knife cut of individual loves. Place loves on a bread stone or baking pan with at least an inch between. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise an hour or until double in size. Heat oven to 375• and bake for 17 minutes. If you want soft buttery tops brush with butter.

There you go. My sub recipe. If you bag them in the refrigerator they last for a few days.

- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Harty Hambone

Been feeling under the weather thanks to a radical temperature drop. Normaly when I feel icky my solution is to take it easy since my system can't handle a lot. But with kids home on fall break that's a little hard to do. My kids seam to always be hungry. Since I don't want to be contantly cooking today I need a simple solution. So what's is simpler then soup. Thanks to moms generosity I have a hambone to throw into a pot. So here is my recipe for Hambone soup.

Hambone Soup:
1 Hambone or Hamhock
1/2 cut diced ham
1 bag 16 bean mix
1 can pitete or crushed tomatos
1/2 tsp galic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Start by soaking beans for 8 to 12 hours. Drain and rinse. Dump into stock pot with hambone or hamhock, seasoning, and fill with water. Bring to boil then reduce heat to a gentle simmer until beans are nice and tender. Add tomatoes and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Now what's soup without bread. Not just any bread but cornbread.

Cornbread Recipe
1 egg
1 1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
2 cups cornmeal

Mix wet ingredients. Add cornmeal and mix well. Pour into oiled pan or cast iron skillet. Bake at 450 for 25 minutes.


- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Can It Be Done, Chicken

Ok it's Sunday, and like most Americans it's time for rest, a little TV, and a wholesome amount of food. But how can you have wholesome food for dinner while resting? Hmmm how about something cooked in a crackpot? 10 minutes prep, 8 hrs of slow cooking, another few minutes dishing up.... But what to cook, chicken, pork, Beef, or maybe vegetables.... Or better yet what recipe to use. But it bring Sunday and I haven't made it to the store in a few days i better check my refrigerator. I've got a whole 3 lb chicken, some apples, and a little coke. If I ignore the coke, combine the chicken and apples I can pull something together I think. So here goes!

My Apple Stuffed Fall Chicken:
3 lb chicken
2 small apples
Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbs Butter

Rub salt and pepper into the skin. Set in crackpot, legs up. Peel, core and chop apples into cubes. Stuff into cavity and secure legs. Position into crock best side up. Sprinkle brown sugar over, put butter on side, cover and cook for 8 hours. Don't open lid at all during cooking, or pot will lose it's temperature and cause chicken to not cook evenly.


- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone