Holiday Buttermilk Syrup

This is another fabulous family recipe! Sarah actually gave it to me a while ago, but I was reminded of it again when Aunt Sunnie and family served it for breakfast this weekend! Scrumptious on pancakes and/or waffles with fresh fruit...try it, and you may never go back to maple!


Holiday Buttermilk Syrup

1 cup sugar
1 cube butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Cool 1 minute add vanilla and soda.

Gina's Wheatberry Salad

Number One and the boys and I went to his family reunion at the old family ranch house. We had a great time seeing/meeting all the cousins and their children, as well as most of Number One's aunts and uncles. All of the aunts are fabulous cooks, and each family group took turns preparing meals. This is one of Aunt Gina's delicious recipes, very refreshing and interesting. You'll like it!

Sorry, no photo, we were all too busy eating!!

Wheatberry Salad - serves 10-12

3 cups cooked wheatberries

1 ½ - 2 cups frozen corn

1 cup jicama, cut into 1/4" dice

1- 15 ounce can black beans, drained & rinsed

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4" dice

½ cup medium salsa

1/4 cup red onion, 1/4" dice

2 tablespoon fresh parsley or 2 teaspoon dried parsley

2 tablespoon cilantro- finely chopped

Combine all together. Pour dressing over all and stir to coat. Chill until served.

Dressing

1/3 cup veg. oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime

1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar

1/4 cup sugar or Splenda

1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Mix or blend until well mixed. Pour over salad.

Taste & Create XXI: Greek Salad

For this month's Taste & Create, I was paired with Liza of Knick Nosh. I was tempted by her Turkey Burgers with Portobello Mushrooms...and thought of making them with ground chicken instead. (I will definitely make them at some point!)

But smoldering away in the bunkhouse in temps that reached 100 degrees and no breeze to speak of, I quickly chose something that looked cool and refreshing: Liza's Greek Salad.

I thought of making pita bread to accompany the salad, since the grocery store doesn't carry it, but procrastinated too long in the heat. This Greek Salad was simply served on a bed of baby spinach, topped with pine nuts, and it was delicious.



Greek Salad
from Knick Nosh
Serves 4 - 6

1 English cucumber, seeded and chopped
1 pint grape tomatoes, chopped
1/2 small red onion
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 cup low fat feta cheese, crumbled
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped (grasshoppers ate my fresh oregano, so I used a pinch or two or dried)
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and serve atop baby spinach (and a fresh pita, if you have any!) Top each serving with a sprinkling of pine nuts.

Taste & Create XXI Partner List

It's that time again! Here is the fabulous Taste & Create partner list! Please remember that your submissions are due by July 24. Sign in and submit your entries on the Taste & Create website, please do not email them to me. Feel free to contact me at cowgirlmin [at] gmail [dot] com if you have any questions at all.

Thank you to Marthe (and the rest who volunteered!) for taking on two partners this month!

The deadline for sign-ups for August's Taste & Create is August 8th, please email your sign-up information to me at cowgirlmin [at] gmail [dot] com. And encourage all your friends to sign up next month as well!

Tasty Treats & Love Big, Bake Often

Knick Nosh & The Bad Girl's Kitchen

One Hot Stove & One Little Corner of the World

Bombay Foodie & eat me, delicious

One Frugal Foodie & Dil Se..

Culinary Delights & Parita's World

Foodie plus 4 & What's For Supper

Cupcake Project & Hippo Flambe

Piccante Dolce & Mommy? I'm Hungry

No Reason Needed & Culinary Delights

Venison Roast with Blueberry-Maple Sauce

Not having this recipe here is an oversight! I was reminded of it when my friend Karen was looking for savory blueberry recipes. It's from the Venison Cookery cookbook, and I am not exaggerating when I say every single recipe of the more than one dozen we've tried from this cookbook has been a winner. (If you have venison or elk, go buy this cookbook today!)

The sauce is wonderful, and I know it would be a great, natural accompaniment on pork as well as venison. We served ours on venison steaks instead of roast. Let me know what you think!

We will be making this again, stay tuned for a picture!

Venison Roast with Blueberry-Maple Sauce
Serves 8

2-pound boneless venison loin roast
2 cloves garlic, slivered
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Coarsely ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

SAUCE:

1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots or onion
1 cup beef or venison stock
1/2 cup dried blueberries
3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 to 3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Make shallow slits in roast with tip of sharp knife. Insert garlic sliver into each slit. Place roast on rack in roasting pan. Brush with oil. Sprinkle roast with pepper. Roast for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F. Roast to desired doneness, 20 to 30 minutes per pound. Sprinkle roast with salt.

Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, combine wine and shallots. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until liquid is reduced by half. Stir in stock and blueberries. Return to a simmer. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until liquid is again reduced by half, stirring occasionally. (For a thicker sauce, stir in 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 teaspoon water at this point).

Whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Stir in syrup, sage, salt and pepper. Serve sauce with roast.

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

This weekend we went to a resort and spa with Number One's father and stepmother-in-law, and Number One's brother and sister-in-law and our niece met up with us halfway through. Since our sister-in-law's birthday is coming up, I decided it would be a nice idea to take some cupcakes with us to celebrate.

I got this recipe from Stef of Cupcake Project, my partner from last month's Taste & Create. She got the recipe from Garrett of Vanilla Garlic. Stef changed Garrett's recipe by baking Garrett's key lime filling right into the cake, and that sounded perfect to me.

Once I got it together to make these, they're actually quite easy. I finally figured out the best way to get the soupy batter into the liners: a small gravy ladle and a spoon for scraping! This batter is tasty, and I ended up with 30 cupcakes!

Stef used lime frosting on her cupcakes. I didn't have lime extract, and I thought lime frosting on a lime cupcake sounded too, well, limey, so I changed the frosting into a coconut frosting. I also topped each cupcake with some lovely toasted natural coconut. (that means raw, unsweetened. I toasted it in my toaster oven at about 350 degrees F for just a few minutes, keeping a close eye on it)

Very beautiful and very delicious, the cupcakes were a big hit, two nights in a row. I'm so glad I stuck the extras in the refrigerator, now we'll have a few more to eat this week!

These cupcakes are sweet and tangy, and the coconut frosting + toasted coconut was the perfect topping! I will be making these again, exactly the same way.

*Robot cupcake liners, chosen by H-Bomb

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes
from Stef of Cupcake Project

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 - 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup lime or key lime juice

1. Beat the butter for about 30 seconds until creamed.
2. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, being sure to beat for 30 seconds for each egg.
4. Use food processor or a potato masher or whatever you have on hand to grind the graham crackers into tiny crumbs and powder.
5. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda and powder, and salt.
   
6. Add about 1/4 of the mixture to the butter mixture.
7. Add some of the milk.
8. Continue to add the ingredients in a dry - wet - dry method, ending with the dry.
9. Mix until just combined.
10. In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and lime juice. (FYI - If you want to make an amazing key lime pie, just mix the ingredients in this step, dump it into a pie shell and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. It's the easiest recipe ever! The pie won't be green and it shouldn't be. Lime juice isn't green.)
11. Dump the key lime mixture into the graham batter and lightly stir. Do NOT fully integrate the key lime and graham batter. You should have clumps of batter in a key lime soup.
12. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Make sure each liner has a nice distribution of key lime liquid and graham clumps.
13. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until top bounces back when touched.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 - 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  

1. Mix the cream cheese and butter.
2. Add the coconut extract and powdered sugar, mix well.
3. Frost cupcakes, top with toasted coconut. I put my cooled, toasted coconut in a cereal bowl, then after frosting a cupcake, I dipped it upside down in the coconut. Worked like a charm and looked great!

Taste & Create: Paneer Sandwich

Taste & Create July

Bombay Foodie Comfort Food #2 Paneer Sandwich

This is a simply, tasty sandwich that my kids LOVED. Paneer cheese is pretty thick so it doesn't melt like your average grilled cheese. I didn't like that at first but the taste won me over!

Here's what you'll need...

Bread

Paneer cheese sliced

salt/pepper

butter

Butter the bread slices and place one in a pan.

Add cheese and sprinkle with salt/pepper.

Top with the other slice of bread.

Flip

It ain't rocket science, it's done in a few minutes and the kids will gobble it up.