Blueberry Streusel Cake

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Anne-Marie of This Mama Cooks!

I was intrigued by her Avocado Ricotta Pound Cake, and totally have her Mexican Breakfast Casserole on my list, but ended up choosing this Blueberry Streusel Cake. 

It was easy to put together.  I did make a few changes, and if there is a next time I will make more changes. To me, in the morning, even with coffee, the cinnamon in the streusel is overpowering, as is the sheer amount of streusel.  I thought about leaving some off as I was dumping it over the batter, but I didn't.  Next time I will, and I'll probably also cut back on the dry ingredients and increase the butter.  But maybe that's just me.

I had to bake this cake almost double the suggested time--15 additional minutes!  At 20 minutes it was still raw (I know this because my pan is clear (see below) AND the toothpick came up with batter on it.  In the end it turned out fine, but if you have somewhere to be, maybe choose a quicker recipe.

H-Bomb likes this cake a lot, and ate two pieces for breakfast!  Sawed Off is refusing to try it (nothing new) and Number One said he'll have some later. 

So, it's a good cake and we'll probably eat it all, but to be honest it makes me long for my mom's amazing Blueberry Tea Cake.  I wish that is the cake I'd made.  I'll have to get that recipe from her and share it soon.

Blueberry Muffin Streusel Cake
Adapted from This Mama Cooks via a friend via Holly Clegg?  
(I'm not sure where the recipe originally came from, but I found it at This Mama Cooks!) 
Makes 12 servings

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup fresh blueberries

Streusel Topping (recipe follows)


Preheat oven to 375°F.  Coat a 9x9x2-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter.

In bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, milk, egg and vanilla.

Stir in oil and blueberries, only until mixed.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup reserved Streusel Topping (recipe below) on bottom of pan. Carefully spread cake mixture on top. Cover with remaining reserved Streusel Pecan Topping.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out dry.

Streusel Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans

In small bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.
Cut in vanilla and butter using pastry blender or fork.
Reserve 1/2 cup topping and add pecans to remaining topping.

An InLinkz Link-up

Coconut Lime Pull-Apart Bread

You probably know I regularly participate in a couple monthly blog events.  Both of these events expose me to new food blogs, and who doesn't enjoy perusing new blogs?  ;-)

Taste & Create is a fun one, (created by my friend Nicole who passed the torch to me when she opened her own bakery/cafe in Germany), in which participants are randomly partnered up and tasked with creating a recipe from each other's blog.  (click the link above and email me at cowgirlmin07[at]gmail[dot]com if you'd like to join us!)

The Secret Recipe Club is interesting too, participants are assigned blogs and make recipes, but there are no partners, everyone is in sort of a daisy-chain of food.  (click on the logo at the bottom of this post to get on the list for this one)

This month, the blog I was assigned for Secret Recipe Club was:

The Tasty Cheapskate

It didn't take long to decide on one of Jeanie's Pull-Apart Breads!  The hard part was deciding whether to make Orange or Coconut Lime!!  A quick question to Number One, and Coconut Lime Pull-Apart Bread was the winner.

This bread goes together easily, rises beautifully and isn't too hard to put together, if a bit messy!

The results are so good that we'll be making this again, in Orange, Cinnamon, and whatever other flavor we can think of!

Coconut Lime Pull-Apart Bread, before glazing

Coconut Lime Pull Apart Bread
 Adapted from The Tasty Cheapskate
Makes 1 loaf 
Prep time: 20 minutes
Rise time: 1 1/2 hours
Cook time: 30 minutes

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (added by the cup)

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
Grated zest of 2 limes (reserve about a teaspoon or so for topping)
1/2 cup coconut (I prefer dried raw, unsweetened)

Heat milk and butter until butter melts (Jeanie does this in the microwave, so I did too). Add cool water, so that the mixture is warm to the touch, but not hot (about 110 degrees). Stir in yeast and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

To this, add 1 cup of flour and mix. Then add another cup of flour and mix. It should be about ready to turn out to knead. (If not, add another 1/2 cup flour). Turn it out to knead adding remaining flour as it gets sticky. I actually ended up using 3 cups of flour total, including what I put on the pastry sheet and kneaded in. The dough should be soft, but not sticky.  It is a nice, substantial dough.

Place dough in a bowl, cover with a lint-free towel and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down and roll it out into a rectangle that is about 12 x 20 inches, about 1/4 inch thick, on a well-floured surface.

Melt butter for filling and drizzle it on, spreading around with a pastry brush so it covers the entire surface area.

Mix sugar, lime zest and coconut well.  Sprinkle evenly over dough.

Cut the dough short-ways into 5 (12x4") strips.  Stack the strips on top of each other. I scooped up the sugar, zest and coconut that fell off and sprinkled it back on the layers.

Cut this long stack into 6 rectangles that are roughly 2 inches wide. Carefully stack them cut side up in a well-greased loaf pan.  Scoop up any sugar mixture that's fallen off and sprinkle it on top.

Cover and let the loaf rise again.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes. 

Jeanie says:  "The top will get a little crusty and you'll worry you might be cooking it too long, but don't worry, that's just caramel-y sugar forming on top. Remove from oven, let it cool slightly, and then take it out of the pan and, yup, tear it apart." 

Unless you want some glaze, in which case, continue on:


Coconut Lime Glaze

4 tablespoons coconut milk
1- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
juice from one lime
reserved lime zest for looks

Mix together and pour over bread while it's still warm.
THEN tear it apart and enjoy!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Cinnamon Roll Custard Oats

You probably know I regularly participate in a couple monthly blog events.  Both of these events expose me to new food blogs, and who doesn't enjoy perusing new blogs?  ;-)

Taste & Create is a fun one, (created by my friend Nicole who passed the torch to me when she opened her own bakery/cafe in Germany), in which participants are randomly partnered up and tasked with creating a recipe from each other's blog.  (click the link above and email me at cowgirlmin07[at]gmail[dot]com if you'd like to join us!)


The Secret Recipe Club is interesting too, participants are assigned blogs and make recipes, but there are no partners, everyone is in sort of a daisy-chain of food.  (click on the logo at the bottom of this post to get on the list for this one)

This month, the blog I was assigned for Secret Recipe Club was:

Fit Mama Real Food

One look at Heather's blog was all it took for me to realize I really wanted to try one of her "custard oats" recipes.  But which one??  Well, I decided to try her Cinnamon Roll Custard Oats out on my boys, who LOVE the oatmeal that I make for them.  I love custard, I love oats, I love cinnamon rolls!

I'm sorry to say the boys did not love this oatmeal. I didn't have any cream cheese, and since they usually don't have toppings, I didn't add any.  I don't know whether that would have made a difference.  It was plenty sweet, they usually like a bit of brown sugar on top of oatmeal but they didn't ask for any of that either.  I guess when you have a winner for before-school breakfast, you just need to stick with it!

As for me, I really enjoyed the flavor, but there was a texture issue.  (this is no one's fault, I have trouble eating an entire container of yogurt b/c of the texture!)  Number One isn't an oatmeal fan from the start, so he didn't try it.  I may play with this recipe more and see what happens, or try one of Heather's other variations.  I am still intrigued by the whole idea!!  If you try it, let me know what you think!

*Incidentally, I doubled the recipe below and had more than enough oatmeal for the three of us, so just keep that in mind.*

Cinnamon Roll Custard Oats
from Fit Mama Real Food
Serves 1

1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup milk or water *(I was running low on milk, so I used half & half and water in equal measure)
1 egg
heaping 1/16th tsp sea salt

Toppings: 1 tbsp cream cheese mixed with 1/2 tsp maple syrup, walnuts and raisins

In a small pot over medium heat add all ingredients except the toppings. Whisk together and continue to whisk every 2 or so minutes as the oats cook. (lower heat and whisk more if the oats start bubbling and splattering)  Once thickened up, about 5 minutes or so, remove and top with cream cheese frosting, walnuts and raisins if desired.

 

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I thought I'd tell you:  I regularly participate in a couple monthly blog events.  

Taste & Create is a fun one, (created by my friend Nicole who passed the torch to me when she opened her own bakery/cafe in Germany), in which participants are randomly partnered up and tasked with creating a recipe from each other's blog.  (click the link above and email me at cowgirlmin07[at]gmail[dot]com if you'd like to join us!)


The Secret Recipe Club is interesting too, participants are assigned blogs and make recipes, but there are no partners, everyone is in sort of a daisy-chain of food.  (click on the logo at the bottom of this post to get on the list for this one)

This month, the blog I was assigned for Secret Recipe Club was:

On The Move-In The Galley

I was initially tempted by Dee's various apple recipes...Apple Pie Swedish Pancakes led to Apple and Walnut Coffee Cake and Apple Skillet Pancake and
Apple Almond Crostata and...and...and...

Somehow, I ran across this recipe for a savory, spicy little treat called Jalapeño Three-Cheese Swirls.  And at that moment, I had chosen.  Or so I thought!

When I had gathered the ingredients and the time came to make the Jalapeño Swirls, I clicked over to Dee's pizza dough recipe, where I stumbled across THIS. 

I've been wanting to make Soft Pretzels for years, and never bit the bullet.  The Time Is NOW.

I was really intrigued with the sausage-wrapped pretzel option, but I'm all out of sausages of any sort.  Next time.  For now, I'm just going with a classic Soft Pretzel.  And I am SO EXCITED!!!

The dough is super easy to mix up.  The trickiest part is getting the pretzels OUT of the simmering water...I used a slotted spoon, but was wishing for a flatter utensil which must be down at the ranch!  Take it from me, tongs definitely do NOT work!  ;-)

The other tip I would add:  roll the pretzel "snakes" long and skinny, then form.  We shaped ours not taking into account the rising they would do, so they turned out more like rolls than a classic pretzel.  Not that I'm complaining!

For some reason our first pan also came out a lot lighter than Dee's...I baked the second pan a few minutes longer, and they browned right up.  I may actually prefer the lighter, softer pretzels as opposed to the crunch of the darker pretzels.  I think I'll need to keep making and eating more pretzels to "perfect" this recipe!  ;-)  Delicious with a dab of Dijon!  Can't wait to try them with sausage inside.

  

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Recipe adapted from On The Move, via Growing Up Gabel

1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
 

12 cups water
¼ cup baking soda
 

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon water
Coarse salt, to taste

In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, and sugar.  Add 1 cup flour.  Add in oil and salt and 1 more cup of flour. Stir to combine.

Add enough flour to make a smooth, elastic dough, slightly tacky is fine. (At this point, I hadn't realized that the "enough flour" was about 2 3/4 cups, so I think I only used about 1 additional cup--it seemed to match the smooth, elastic, slightly tacky description...Fingers crossed!)  Knead dough a few times in the bowl.  Cover bowl and let dough rise until doubled (about 1 hour).

Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees. Grease baking sheets. (I used parchment paper instead)

Bring the 12 cups of water to a boil in a large stock pot. SLOWLY add in baking soda (slowly to minimize foaming). Keep water simmering.

Gently punch down dough and divide in to 6 or 12 pieces (depending on size of pretzel you want).

Roll each piece of dough out to an 12-18″ rope. Shape in to pretzel shape and pinch ends to close up. OR, use a dough rope to wrap up a link or smaller piece of sausage, encasing it completely and pinching the ends to secure. Repeat with remaining dough and sausages.

Boil each pretzel for 10-15 seconds, making sure all sides are boiled.  Place pretzels on greased baking sheets, 1 inch apart.  Cover pretzels and let rest for 5 minutes.

Whisk together egg yolk and water and then brush on top of pretzels. Sprinkle salt on pretzels.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

S'mores Brownies

This month, the blog I was assigned for Secret Recipe Club was:

Smells Like Brownies

Originally I was planning to make Melissa's Peach Ice Cream, but I was going to make it with apricots since my tree was producing a ton and my peach tree wasn't ripe yet.  I didn't get around to it quickly enough, and before I knew it my apricots were no longer in season.  Peaches still aren't in season around here.

So I decided to search for a brownie recipe.  For obvious reasons.  ;-)

I didn't get past the very first brownie recipe in the category before my mind was made up:

S'mores Brownies.

The bottom brownie recipe is a bit fussy, but goes together quickly and turns out delicious!  Easier if you have all your ingredients ready to whisk in ahead of time.  Next time, I will sprinkle the chocolate chips on brownies before adding the marshmallows and graham crackers so they melt a bit more.

The brownies were a hit!  Everyone loved them!

S’mores Brownies

originally adapted from The Science of Good Cooking
makes 24

Brownie Ingredients:
⅓ cup cocoa powder
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water
2 oz. unsweetened Baker’s chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons. vanilla extract
2½ cups sugar
1¾ cups flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips
½ cup mini marshmallows (optional)

Topping Ingredients:
3 cups mini marshmallows
5 graham crackers, broken
½ cup milk chocolate chips

Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 13ʺx9ʺ pan with foil and grease the foil.

 Whisk cocoa and boiling water together in a large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk unto chocolate is melted. Whisk in oil and melted butter (mixture may look curdled).

Add the eggs, yolks, and vanilla. Continue to whisk until smooth and homogenous. Whisk in the sugar until fully incorporated.

With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour and salt. Fold in the milk chocolate chips and marshmallows, if using.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.

Meanwhile, combine the marshmallows and the graham crackers in a medium bowl.

Pull the brownies out of the oven and sprinkle the marshmallow mixture evenly over the surface. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the marshmallows.

Return the brownies to the oven and bake another 10–15 minutes, until the marshmallows are puffed and golden.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil liner. Set them back on the wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Cut into squares and serve.

Grilled Pineapple Chicken

This month, my assignment for Secret Recipe Club was:

Close to Home.

Maria has lots of great-sounding recipes, but it's summer and it's hot and I wanted to cook something on the grill.  So I made my choice:  her Grilled Pineapple Chicken Kabob Foil Packets.  While the name is a mouthful, the recipe is pretty darn good.  Easy to put together, I had just about everything in my kitchen to whip these up.  We make Campfire Potatoes a lot, but I don't remember doing any packets with meat in them, not sure why.

I packaged mine up ahead of time, then tossed them on the grill just before dinner. 

My husband didn't make it home for dinner, so I had two younger taste-testers.  My oldest boy liked it and ate his whole dinner.  I should have made rice to go with these!  My youngest said he didn't like the chicken, but he did eat a couple bites.

These would be very good with rice, and I think next time I'll cook them just a bit less.  I used my own peach jam from last summer, and I decided to coat the chicken with the preserve mixture first, instead of piling it on with the vegetables.  It worked great.

Before grilling, 1 serving

Grilled Pineapple Chicken Foil Packs
Adapted from Close to Home 
Makes 4 servings
 
1/3 cup pineapple, peach or apricot preserves (I used my own peach jam)
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (I used a pinch)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch cubes (1 lb)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes (I used 2 yellow peppers I had)
1 cup pineapple chunks
1 red onion, cut in 1 inch cubes (I only used 1/2 an onion)
salt, to taste

Heat grill on medium heat.  In small bowl, stir together pineapple preserves, brown sugar, soy sauce and crushed red pepper.  Add chicken breast chunks and toss until coated.

Cut 8 (12×12-inch) sheets of heavy-duty foil. Divide coated chicken, bell peppers, pineapple chunks and onion evenly among foil sheets. Sprinkle each lightly with salt. Seal edges tightly, folding and rolling in toward the center three or four times.  Seal opposite sides, then fold edges in on last two sides and roll in a similar fashion, taking care not to package the food too snugly but sealing edges carefully so juices don't leak out when flipped.

Reduce grill to low.  Place packets on grill over low heat. Cover grill; cook 6 minutes. Using tongs, carefully turn packets over, taking care not to puncture foil. Cook 10 to 12 minutes longer or until chicken is no longer pink in center and vegetables are crisp-tender.

***If you're looking for a fun new food blog event, look no further!  Taste & Create is a fabulous monthly blog event in which participants are randomly paired off to choose and prepare a dish from their partner's blog. 

 If you'd like to join us, please email me at 
cowgirlmin07 [at] gmail [dot] com for more information!  

We'd love to have you.***

Crab Rangoon

This month, my assignment for Secret Recipe Club was:

Morsels of Life

Somehow, I ran across her recipe for Baked Crab Rangoon.  I have been in love with Crab Rangoon since I first learned how to make them in college.  I have always deep fried them, and they are fabulous.  I was intrigued by this baked version so there was no question about my recipe choice.

I did do a few things differently.  First, I sprayed the muffin tin with olive oil spray, put the wonton wrappers in, then sprayed the wrappers and crossed my fingers.  It worked just fine.  I did pull them out after just 5 minutes in the oven.  They were browning quickly on the corners and I was concerned about warming them up again with the cream cheese mixture.

I don't have access to much crab meat in the small desert town where I live, so I picked up some canned.  I used more cream cheese, because I couldn't see how 1/4 cup could possibly stretch to fill 20 wonton skins, (wonder if it's a typo?) and stirred in the green onion because that's how I make mine.  I was interested to see what the lemon juice and Worcestershire brought to the rangoon, because I don't add them to mine.  I chose to omit the sour cream, no real reason other than it was optional.

The first batch turned out okay, but I lowered the oven temperature for the second baking as I was concerned about burning and 3 minutes wasn't really enough to warm the cream cheese very much.  I guess we just prefer the deep-fried version with the melty cheese!  Don't get me wrong, we still ate them all!!

For the second batch, we decided to put the cream cheese mixture in before baking the wontons at all.  I baked those for 7 minutes, and the result was good.  The cream cheese mixture was hot and creamy, but the wontons were a bit less crispy on the bottom. 

I'd say you could do it either way, really.  These would be a good appetizer to make ahead for a party if you didn't want to be standing around deep-frying, just have them made up and pop them in the oven (or not) right before the party starts, but just know they're not exactly what you'd expect from a crab rangoon.

Please follow the link if you'd like to see the original recipe.  My version is listed below. 

P.S. Next time I will omit the Worcestershire as well. 

They are pretty little things!

Crab Rangoon
Adapted from Morsels of Life

24 wonton skins
1 can of crab meat, about 6 ounces
2 teaspoons lemon juice
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (omit)
4-5 green onions, sliced (3 stirred in, 1-2 reserved for garnish)

Spray muffin tin with olive oil, press wonton skins gently into tins, then lightly spray skins.

Bake at 375 degrees F about 5 minutes, and wonton skins should be crispy.  *(see above for alternate baking option)

Meanwhile, combine remaining materials (except crab) and mix well. Gently mix in crab. Spoon filling into wonton shell, about 1 tablespoon per wonton.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 3-5 minutes to warm up entire Crab Rangoon, if desired, keeping a close eye on them so they don't burn. Garnish with reserved green onions.

Pineapple Cake

This month my assignment for Secret Recipe Club was:

Dagny of Whisked Away.

Right away Dagny's Breakfast category pulled me in.  I noticed lots of cakey things...coffee cakes, muffins, fruit breads...and quickly decided to make this Pineapple Cake.  And I only needed two ingredients from the store!


This is a fairly quick and easy cake to pull together, I was interested to see how cooking the pineapple before adding the cake batter affected the outcome.  I didn't seem to have a ton of cake batter, so was a little concerned how it would all turn out (not too easy to spread over the pineapple/brown sugar liquidy mixture).

I should not have worried!  The cake crept over to the edges while baking and covered all the pineapple.  I was surprised given the butter and my nonstick pan that any pineapple stuck to the pan at all when I turned it out, but it did.  I just smoothed it back into the cake, which I suppose is easier than fitting the round slices back into their places on the cake.

This is a beautiful cake, different than a traditional pineapple upside down cake, but with similarly delicious flavors.  I know I will be making it again! 

Pineapple Cake

Via Whisked Away, originally adapted from Food and Wine Magazine

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup crushed pineapple, juices drained

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla
 1/2 cup sour cream
 

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter an 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pan.  Sprinkle the bottom with 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar.

In a large skillet, combine the remaining 3/4 cup of brown sugar with the 1/2 stick of butter and the vanilla  and cook over moderately low heat until the butter is melted. Add the pineapple and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour mixture into bottom of the pan.

In a bowl, beat 1 stick butter with the granulated sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla, then the sour cream.  In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients and beat until smooth.

Spoon the batter over the pineapple mixture and spread it evenly. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the cake is deep golden. Let cool for 5 minutes on a rack. Run a knife around the edge of the cake, invert it onto a plate and remove the pan. Replace any pineapple that may have stuck to the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Indian Style Chicken and Lentils

My assignment for the Secret Recipe Club this month was:

Danielle of Mostly Food & Crafts

Danielle has lots of delicious recipes, but I was craving something quick and filling.  Her Indian Style Chicken and Lentils fit the bill!  It ended up taking longer because of my darn lentils, but it was still delicious

Here's the recipe.

Indian Style Chicken and Lentils
recipe adapted from Mostly Food & Crafts

8 chicken thighs
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
3 garlic cloves
minced 1 jalapeno, de-seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 cups lentils
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups chicken broth

Season chicken with salt and pepper. In Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat and brown chicken, 4 to 5 minutes per side.  Remove and set aside.

Chop together onions, garlic and jalapeno and set aside.


Heat remaining oil in pan; saute salt, garam masala and cumin, about 1 minute.  Stir in onion mixture and cook, stirring, until browned, about 6 minutes. Add the lentils and carrots, stirring to coat. Stir in chicken broth and 1 cup of water.  Add chicken back to pot and bring to a boil.

At this point Danielle says to reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 25 minutes.  I guess my lentils (that I just bought at the store the other day) were older or something, because they took forever to cook.  after about an hour I finally just served up dinner with somewhat crunchy lentils because we couldn't wait any longer!  Such is life.  Just cook until lentils are done I suppose!

Salsa Verde

Without further ado, my assignment for the Secret Recipe Club this month was:

What's Brewing in the Kitchen

Amy has many tempting recipes, including the Puffy Apple Pancake (quite similar to my Baked Pancake, but with apples!), Baked Vanilla Doughnuts (doughnuts, again?!!), and Pollo al Chilindron.  In the end, I ran across this Salsa Verde recipe (link below), and I had to make it for several reasons:

• It is one of Rick's recipes.  
• I love salsa verde, but I have never made it.   
• Reading the recipe made me crave it, so I ran to the store for tomatillos and chips!  

I doubled it from the start, except I left out half of the water.  Below is the double batch recipe, follow the link for Amy's proportions. This recipe is easy to put together, and tastes fresh and delicious!  Enjoy some today!

Salsa Verde

makes about 2 cups

from FoodNetwork.com via What's Brewing in the Kitchen

1 pound (10 to 12 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
2 jalapeno pepper, stemmed and seeded
10 or 12 sprigs fresh cilantro, roughly chopped 

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup water
coarse salt
 

Roughly chop the tomatillos and the chiles.
 
In a blender or food processor, combine the tomatillos, chiles, cilantro and water. Pulse briefly to a coarse puree; scrape down sides.  


Rinse the onion under cold water, then shake to remove excess moisture. Pulse a couple times into the salsa, then scrape into a serving dish.
 
Season with salt to taste.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

So you probably know, I joined the The Secret Recipe Club.   It is a secret blog assignment, where you are set off into another foodie's blog alone, and no one else is supposed to know.  Someone else all together gets to peruse your blog.  We'll all find out who had which blog on the same day and time.

Without further ado, my assignment for the Secret Recipe Club this month was:

The Novice Housewife

Shortly after I started looking at Shumaila's blog, it was an clear contest between Toasted Coconut Ice Cream and Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I fully intend on making the Toasted Coconut Ice Cream this week, but between canning and a weekend trip, I decided to make the cookies.  And take them with us on our trip, of course!

They are delicious.  I didn't have patience to brown the butter, but I did melt it for quite a while.  I also used two kinds of chocolate chips.  I can't tell you how many the recipe made, because everyone was eating them straight out of the oven!

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips/chunks (I used a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate)
sea salt, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking trays with parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking frequently. Whisk till the butter turns a little light brown. Takes about 5- 8 mins. Let cool to room temperature.

Add melted butter to both sugars in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth.  Stir in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and kosher salt. Add the dry ingredient to the sugar-butter mix until just combined.  Let cool completely.

Once completely cool, fold chocolate chips in the batter. Scoop 2 tablespoon-size portions onto the tray and flatten slightly. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 8-10 minutes and remove from the oven. Cool on tray a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Baked Donut Holes

Last month, I joined the The Secret Recipe Club.   It is a secret blog assignment, where you are set off into another foodie's blog alone, and no one else is supposed to know.  Someone else all together gets to peruse your blog.  We'll all find out who had which blog on the same day and time.

Without further ado, my assignment for the Secret Recipe Club this month was:

It's Yummy To My Tummy!

In perusing this new-to-me blog, the first recipe that caught my eye was Bacon & Sundried Tomato Guacamole.  I believe I will try this recipe at some point. 

But I kept coming back to the Baked Donuts.  I do have a donut pan, which I have not yet used, but as luck would have it, it wasn't at this house at the particular time I decided it was "time to make the donuts."  The donut pan languishes, unused and shiny (although probably a bit dusty by now) at the ranch.  

However, I had recently purchased a Bella Cake Pop & Donut Hole Maker for my son's Angry Birds birthday party, and that was right here where I needed it!  (the one I have is similar to this one, although I purchased mine at Target and it actually makes 12 at a time)

I didn't have the ingredients for Heather's chocolate or vanilla glazes, so I opted for a cinnamon sugar topping, which was delicious!  I also didn't have cake flour or nutmeg, but regular flour and cinnamon work just fine.  To see the original recipe and the yummy glaze recipes, please follow this link!  

These are easy to whip up and everyone loved them!

Baked Donut Holes
Adapted from  It's Yummy To My Tummy!
makes about 48, I think, we ate them pretty fast!

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup buttermilk (a big splash of lemon juice + enough milk to total 3/4 cup)

1/2 stick butter, melted

sugar mixed with cinnamon (I never measure, but I'd guess at least a 1/2 cup sugar and a teaspoon or two of cinnamon?  just mix and add more until it looks/tastes right)

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Add eggs, 2 tablespoons melted butter, and buttermilk. Mix until just combined.

Preheat the donut hole maker.  Fill and cook as directed, mine took about 5 minutes per batch.  Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a bowl.  In a pie plate, mix sugar and cinnamon.

As each batch comes out, coat the donuts with melted butter and then swirl around in cinnamon sugar until coated.  I put about 6 donut holes at a time in the butter bowl, then transfer to the pie plate to coat.  If you don't use butter, the cinnamon sugar just won't stick.


I will definitely be making these again!  Enjoy!