Good Eats: Jambalaya

Friends, this on the common cook list in the Dunn household.  I think Babes would attest that it is his favorite dish that I make…. of course when I don’t make it too spicy.  This recipe is adapted from here. I have left out some stuff and subbed some stuff, so here is my version below.

Jambalaya

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 Andouille Sausages (can sub for a mild tasting sausage)
• 2 cups of small shrimp, shelled
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup bell peppers, chopped
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 2/3 cup long-grain rice(we have used several different kinds, jasmine, white, and basmati and all of them work great!)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun spices (perhaps less depending on how salty yours is)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet.
2. Sauté the onion, garlic, and bell pepper until tender.
3. Add canned tomatoes with liquid, rice, thyme, basil, Cajun spices, cayenne pepper, chicken broth, Andouille sausage, Tabasco and bay leaf.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
5. Let simmer for about 15-20 or just before rice is tender; add shrimp, cook for approximately 2-3 minutes or until shrimp is pink.

 

Enjoy

-jen

Thursday Sweet Treats: Strawberry Yogurt Bundt Cake

This cake is delightful! The first time I made this cake was one of my first times baking a bundt cake.  I always remember as a child, that my mom would always turn the cake upside down to get it to fall out. Now I don’t know if that is an accurate memory and I found that the accurate memory was not to turn it upside down right after taking it out of the oven . My cake turned out like this….

I do have a better success story though.

In January, we had the privilege to celebrate our dear friend, Nishant’s birthday with him.  I also had the delight of teaching my new friend, how to bake a cake, and this was the cake he requested from my bank of recipes.  We stuck to the recipe this time, so Shalaka could learn how to use one.  The recipe came from aspicyperspective.com.

Strawberry Yogurt Cake

Yields: 1 bundt cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 T lemon juice, divided
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• ½ t baking soda
• ½ t salt
• 8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt
• 12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
• 1 cup powdered sugar

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
2. Sift together 2 ¼ cups of the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice.
4. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
5. Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool at least 40 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
8. Once cooled, whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.
9. Devour!

 

-jen

Thursday Sweet Treats: Babe Ruth Bars

These are super quick and easy and generally things you have around the house(maybe minus the Hershey’s bars).  I got this recipe from my Gram that lives in PA; we used to make these at least once a summer ❤

Babe Ruth Bars

Yields: 1 9X13 cake pan

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups of white corn syrup
• 6 cups of corn flakes
• 6 Hershey bars

 

Directions:

1. Bring peanut butter and white corn syrup to a boil.
2. Mix in flakes.
3. Pack in greased 9X13 cake pan; while hot put Hershey bars on top and evenly spread it when melted.
4. Cool and place in the refrigerator (just because they taste better cold)

 

Enjoy

-jen

Thursday Sweet Treats: Apple Pie Muffins

These may be perhaps some of the best muffins that I have ever made or maybe even eaten for that matter.  We have a ton of apples still, frozen of course, from our apple picking that we did in the fall. The recipe is from this blog.  I did not change anything and won’t cause they are sooo good, so thanks for the great recipe Liz at Virtually Homemade.

Apple Pie Muffins

Yields 24 “normal sized” muffins

Ingredients for the Topping:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 6 T all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 t ground cinnamon

 

Ingredients for the Batter:

• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups diced apple

 

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour or line with paper cups or parchment paper, 12 cup muffin tin.
2. Make the topping:  Combine brown sugar, flour, melted butter and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix until crumbly;  Set aside.
3. Combine the brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla in a large bowl.  Mix and set aside.
4. Sift together the flour, soda, salt and cinnamon.  Blend the flour into the mixture, alternately with the buttermilk.  Add the diced apple.  Mix until just combined.  Spoon into prepared muffin tins.  Sprinkle generously with topping.
5. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown and the top springs back when touched.

 

Enjoy

-jen

Thursday Sweet treats: gooey Brownies

This is a recap from the shower that we had this past weekend for my lovely brother-in-law and his future bride.  The first time I made these, I messed them up and melted all the chocolate chips for the shower I separated them.  I liked them better when it has the melted chocolate swirled in but it’s up to you.  I will post both. And it seems I didn’t take a picture of them but you know what brownies look like right?

Gooey Brownies

This recipe is adapted from the Ghiradelli recipe.

Yields: 1 9×9 pan of brownies or 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 8 oz of chocolate chips (separated in half if you want whole chocolate chips in the brownie or not separated if you want it extra gooey with chocolate)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon salt

 

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. In the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, melt the 4 oz (or 8 depending on the above)chocolate chips and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

4. Stir the brown sugar and vanilla into 4 oz of the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and mix well.

5. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, mixing well until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips(or remainder of the melted chocolate chips) and pour the batter into the prepared pan.

6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Bake cupcakes for 10-12 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into 2-inch squares.

 

Enjoy

-jen

A shower

My mother-in-law and I are throwing my brother-in-law and his soon to be bride a couples shower next weekend. I am not going to give out too many of the details but here are a few pictures to give you some clues as to what has been floating through my head as I have been planning. I will post pictures after it’s over.

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So think the color scheme on the right with maybe a tinge more yellow in that middle color.  I’m thinking presents, games, parfaits (with all red, blue and yellow fruit of course), key lime pie, hummus and pita, canning jars with a few fresh flowers in the them(for the perfect blend of country shic and pops of modern color), and then one of my favorite things in the world, Mad libs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-jenny

Freezer Dinner Swap

This week, I got to participate in my first dinner swap! It was awesome. In fact, the day after we did all of this, we ate one of those freezer meals…. no use in wasting time.

How it worked:

There were 4 of us that made 6 of the same dish.  We made a standard of size, since not all of us had the same number of family members.  We got together one night and swapped meals.

So break down:

• 4 people
• Each person makes 6 recipes of the same meal (which sounds like a lot but is really cost efficient and when you make something in bulk, it is quite easy)
• Serving size was 4-6 people
• A nice night of swapping

 

I made my Chicken Tortilla Soup.

I came home with:

• Taco Soup(check out Betsy’s blog here).
• Buttermilk Chicken, Corn muffins, and Broccoli
• Spaghetti Casserole

 

You should try having one with some of your friends! It saves money, time and lets you try different recipes!  If you have done one, pass along some recipes!  I am sure we will be doing this again, and it’s hard to decide what you want to make 6 of.

-jenny

Thursday Sweet Treats: Lemon Crusted Cookies

My friend told me about this recipe and really I like to bake things from scratch but sometimes there are days when you just don’t have time.  I could eat these all day long.  They have that lemon-drop taste, mmm which is so delightful.

Pic was borrowed since I was in a hurry 🙂

Ingredients:

• One box of lemon cake mix
• 1/3 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• powdered sugar

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix all ingredients together
3. Spoon out 1/2 inch balls on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
4. Dust with powdered sugar.

 

-jen

Thursday Sweet Treats: Oreo Balls

I’m getting caught up here from the holidays.  I made so many different things to give out I didn’t have enough time to blog them.  But here is a treasured recipe.  Only 3 ingredients and you could eat ‘em all day!

Picture by busy at home

Oreo Balls

Yield: Approx. 25-30 balls

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Oreos
• 1 package of softened cream cheese
• 1 1/2 packages of Bakers chocolate or almond bark

 

Directions:

1. Put all Oreos in a gallon size zip lock.  Be sure to release all the air inside.
2. Mash Oreos with a spoon, rolling pin or any other ridiculous object you can come up with. Note: You can use a food processor for steps 1 and 2…. I just find it easier to do by hand.
3. Once Oreos are mashed, place them in a large bowl and mix well with the cream cheese.  You made need to break out the hands for this one folks
4. Roll into quarter size balls (or really however big you want em) place them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and freeze them for 30-45 minutes.
5. With about 10 minutes left, use your double boiler and melt the chocolate.
6. Cover balls and place back on the cookie sheet, then freeze once all are covered.
7. Store in an airtight container once the shell has hardened.

 

-jenny

Multi-Grain Bread

We made a lot of our Christmas presents this year.  Remember back in October when Babes and I went apple picking?  And then we made Apple Butter… well then we gave them away for Christmas.

Well you know, I am technically from both Pennsylvanian and Oklahoman (half my family is from each) and in PA they eat a lot of apple butter but in OK they don’t, so I didn’t know if people would know what to eat it with.  So….. I made some bread.  or should I say a truckload of bread.

Anyway, this bread was outstanding.  I made five batches and of those five I got to taste at least two and they were both very moist on the inside!  So here it is…modified from Martha Stewart herself…..

Multi-Grain Bread

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (two 1/4-ounce envelopes)
• 2 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
• 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for bowl, pans, and brushing
• 3 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup rye flour (kingarthurflour.com)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and dusting
• 4 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/3 cup bulgur
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 pint flaxseeds
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 egg white

Directions

1. Soak 1/3 cup bulgur in 1/2 cup warm water for 20 minutes; set aside.
2. Sprinkle yeast over 1/2 cup water. Add 2 teaspoons honey. Whisk until yeast dissolves. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
3. Whisk all flours with salt.
4. Transfer yeast to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle or dough-hook attachment. Add butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups water and 3 tablespoons honey. Add 3 cups of flour to yeast. Mix on low speed until smooth.
5. Mix in soaked bulgur, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup flaxseeds, and 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds. Add remaining 4 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing until dough comes away from sides of bowl and forms a ragged, slightly sticky ball.
6. Butter a large bowl.
7. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball. Transfer to prepared bowl; cover with plastic wrap.
8. Let dough stand in a warm place until it doubles in volume (it should not spring back when pressed), about 1 hour. Butter two 4 1/2-by-8 1/2-inch loaf pans. Punch down dough; divide in half.
9. Shape 1 dough half into an 8 1/2-inch-long rectangle (about 1/2 inch thick). Fold long sides of dough in to middle, overlapping slightly. Press seam to seal. Transfer dough, seam side down, to pan. Repeat with remaining dough.
10. Brush tops of loaves with egg wash (beaten egg white mixed with water) and sprinkle with oats and sunflower seeds. Dab tops with egg wash to help adhere.
11. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Drape loaves with towel. Let stand until dough rises about 1 inch above tops of pans, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake, rotating pans after 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown, about 45 minutes.
12. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool slightly; turn out loaves. Let cool completely before slicing.

 

Enjoy

-jenny