Sunday, August 31, 2008

Dipping Spoons by the Spoon Sisters -- Courtesy of Blake Makes!



I was lucky enough to receive a set of the "Dipping Spoons" from the Spoon Sisters, via the BlakeMakes website.


These spoons are awesome -- no more floury/baking powder-y/spice-y knuckles for me as I try to get items from the bottom of the jar! These spoons take care of that for you!


And their funky color scheme is fabulous. I heart these spoons!


The spoon set includes 5 nesting spoons: 1/8 teaspoon, ¼ teaspoon, ½ teaspoon, teaspoon and tablespoon.


Get some! NOW!

Patrice's Potatoes


I saw these on Your Home Based Mom and thought they looked tasty -- and they WERE!

Definately be making these again. This time, we served them with the PW's Crispy Yogurt Chicken.

Patrice's Potatoes

8-10 medium sized red potatoes, thinly sliced (I used organic idaho potatoes)
1/2 cube butter, melted (I had no idea what Leigh Anne meant -- she was kind enough to tell me a "cube" is a stick -- so this is 1/4 cup, or 1/2 a stick of butter)
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
2 tsp mild chili powder
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions
- Mix above ingredients and toss with thin sliced potatoes.
- Place on a cookie sheet.
- Bake at 500 degrees for 7-10 minutes, then turn potatoes and bake another 7-10 minutes until desired crispness.

(Note: I had a few that didn't fit on my cookie sheet -- I tossed them in a skillet and browned them up that way. Both work!)

Pioneer Woman's Crispy Yogurt Chicken

Sorry for that nasty gash -- it was 1.5 hours later than I thought we'd be eating, and I was in no mood for "pretty" checking that the chicken was done!


I *think* (without actually going back through my posts and looking) that this is my first Pioneer Woman recipe. That's hard to believe considering she pops up nearly every other starred item in my Google Reader!



Unfortunately, I wasn't all that thrilled with this recipe. DH liked it immensely, but I tend to be a "consistency" eater, and the panko consistency really turns me off. The flavor from the yogurt mixture was tasty, though.



It may have been better if I'd have used smaller chicken, too -- DH bought me these monstrosity-sized chicken breasts (they took almost 2 hours to cook!!!) for the recipe. Maybe it would've been better with smaller pieces of chicken.



Who knows!



Pioneer Woman's Crispy Yogurt Chicken
(Pioneer Woman Cooks)

Chicken (she uses thighs or legs -- we used breasts)
2 cups plain yogurt
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (I used pre-minced)
Handful of parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Butter
2 cups (approx) Panko bread crumbs

Directions
- Pour 2 cups plain yogurt into an empty bowl. Add minced garlic, chopped parsley, and the juice of 1 lemon. Mix well.
- Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
- Pour 2 cups of panko into another bowl and give it a sprinkling of salt as well. Mix.
- Butter a baking dish
- Using tongs, dip each piece of chicken in the yogurt mixture (coating entirely) and then in the panko (coating entirely again). Place in buttered baking dish.
- Place a slice of butter over the meatiest part of each piece of chicken (for the ginourmous breasts I actually used two butter slices)
- Cover chicken with foil and bake at 350 degree F oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to let the breadcrumbs brown up a bit (I had to cook mine much longer, and I reccommend more than 15 minutes uncovered to get that brownness on top!)

Monday, August 25, 2008

Biryani


This vegetable rice is almost slightly sweet, and DELICIOUS. It was the first time I'd cooked with basmati rice -- and I have some leftover, so I'll have to find more recipes to use it in!

I'm so glad I read about rinsing it before using it on Kristie's blog -- otherwise I may not have realized I had to!

Biryani (Vegetable Rice)

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice (red or yellow onion)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (I just used cumin powder)
1 tablespoon garlic
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced potato (I omitted)
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red chile pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 cups water
2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and drained

DIRECTIONS
- Melt ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add onion, and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
- Stir Garam Masala; cook until the spices are fragrant, and the cumin seeds begin to pop, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in garlic, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup water.
- Bring to a simmer, and cook until the water has evaporated, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in peas, carrot, and potato.
- Season with chicken bouillon, salt, red chile, black pepper, and turmeric.
- Stir well, then cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
-Pour in 4 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Once boiling, stir in basmati rice, reduce heat to medium, recover, and simmer for 10 minutes. - Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until the rice has softened, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Tandoori Chicken


I decided to branch out and try a new cuisine. Since I often have tummy troubles with, ahem, "unique cuisines" in restaurants, I decided to try it at home.

This time around we tried Indian food. With a little help from Kristie's Kitchen, I set out to make tandoori chicken, biryani, and (the original plan at least...) naan.

Unfortunately, the night I made the Indian food is also the night we had to sign paperwork with a real estate agent to put in an offer on a house. I ended up cooking at 9pm!!

Needless to say -- we used the store-bought naan.

Things I've learned?

1. Cardamom is freaking EXPENSIVE and one should look at the price before just tossing it in the basket. YIKES!
2. Indian food sits remarkably well with my delicate tummy
3. DH thinks this meal was flippin' amazing and wants it again soon. My reaction? GOOD--I just spent $12 on a container of cardamom!!!

Tandoori Chicken

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
1/2 C plain yogurt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
1 inch piece fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cardamom


DIRECTIONS
- Run garlic through a press, or finely mince. Grate ginger.
- Mix together yogurt, oil, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and spices.
- Make diagonal slashes in the chicken meat to allow marinade to penetrate better. (I diced up my chicken into pieces, so I didn't do this part)
- Pour yogurt mixture over chicken parts.
- Marinate for 4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the refrigerator, turning occasionally.
- If the chicken is placed in the refrigerator, bring it to room temperature before cooking.
- Preheat broiler.
- Brush grill or shallow baking pan with a little oil to keep chicken from sticking. Arrange chicken on the pan.
- Broil chicken 2-3 inches away from the heat until cooked through, approximately 25 minutes, turning halfway through.


Southern Peach Cobbler

Since DH had brought me home so many peaches, I figured I needed to make a dessert with them!
I rather hate making pie, so when I came across this cobbler recipe, I thought I'd give it a shot instead.

It was the best cobbler I've ever had. Hands down. And it would be JUST as good with any type of fruit!

The most impressive part is the fact that we finished the last of the cobbler 6 days after I made it -- and the topping was still nice and crisp! No soggies!


Southern Peach Cobbler

8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I omitted)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture:
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Directions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch.
- Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish (I used a 9 x 13 pan and it worked great).
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. - Stir in water until just combined.
- Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them.
- Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
- Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes. (Mine was only about 23-25 minutes)





Sorry for the pictures -- I didn't get any single-serving images!

Edit: I've entered this cobbler in Joelen's Culinary Adventures blog event -- Cobblers, Crumbles, and Crisps, Oh My!

Menu Mondays

Hopefully "house buying" won't intefere with cooking this week...

Probably no baking this weekend -- I'm battling a cold.

Monday: Steak, pasta, steamed broccoli
Tuesday: PW's Crispy Yogurt Chicken, Patrice's Potatoes, Veggie-Yet-To-Be-Determined
Wednesday: Skillet Beef Stroganof
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Leftovers

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Chicken Kafta with Tzatziki


DH selected this dish for our weekly menu -- and I think we both thought it would be more like "gyros" than it was.

Admittedly, a little disappointed. I didn't particularly like the flavors in the chicken...I think I just found them too weak, to be honest. We also don't have a grill, so I broiled mine -- but grilling may have added to their flavor.

I did take Culinary Infatuation's advice, and served it with a little tzatziki sauce -- quite tasty!

Chicken Kafta
1 lb. ground chicken
1/4 cup grated onion
2 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
2 tsp. ground coriander
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. olive oil
1.5 tbsp. bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
- Preheat oven to Broil
- Mix all ingredients together and shape into oblong patties
- Lightly oil an oven-safe grill pan and arrange patties on top
- Put in broiler and cook for about 5-6 minutes per side (temp may vary -- keep an eye on them!)


Monday, August 18, 2008

Corn Fritters

DH loves corn fritters. Personally, I'd never had or even heard of one until I met him -- and I am still kind of take-it-or-leave-it on them.

But, we had 4 ears of corn that needed to be used up, and DH was out fishing -- so I got creative with it.

I used the recipe on A Taste of Home Cooking's blog -- it seemed pretty standard, and the addition of a little heavy cream was sure to make it yummy!

All-in-all, these were good. I rebelled against the rules for frying, using Canola oil instead of a corn or vegetable oil, and DH said he could tell. He told me I need to use veggie or corn oil next time!

Farmstand Corn Fritters

(Makes 12 fritters)

1 1/2 lbs. fresh corn (2 large or 3-4 medium ears), husks and silks removed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. cornmeal
2 tbsp. heavy cream
1 small shallot, minced (I never keep shallot -- I used some regular onion)
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil, as needed

Directions
-Cut kernels from 1-2 ears of corn (depending on size) and place in a large bowl (you should have about 1 cup of kernels)
- Grate the remaining ears of corn on the large holes on a box grater (you should have a generous 1/2 cup of grated kernels)
- Add the grated kernels to the bowl with the whole kernels
- Using a butter knife, scrape any remaining pulp from all ears of corn into the bowl
- Stir in the egg, flour, cornmeal, cream, shallot, salt and cayenne
- Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering
- Drop 6 heaping tablespoons of batter into the pan, and fry until golden brown (took me about 4-5 minutes per side)
- Transfer fritters to a plate lined with paper towels to drain
- If necessary, add more oil to the skillet and reheat; fry remaining batter
- Serve immediately


Mine look a little dark -- bad lighting!

Menu Monday

Average amount of cooking this week -- DH and I have settled into a rhythm where he lets me make one new, blog-able dish for dinner per week -- as long as we can still have his favorites!

Monday: Steak (we're STILL using free omaha steaks!), steamed green beans
Tuesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce (quick night -- we have an appointment in the evening)
Wednesday: Tandoori chicken, biryani, and naan (indian food)
Thursday: BLT's (Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato), steamed broccoli
Friday: Leftovers!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Pulled Pork - Revisited


A few months ago, I made pulled pork, using the root-beer-and-crock-pot method. And it was good...but it wasn't to die for, like I wanted it to be.

A little research produced a tasty-sounding spice rub on The Way the Cookie Crumbles -- and I was off!

I used TWTCC's spice rub recipe as a base, but since my roast was a wee little 2 pounder, and hers was waddling into the 8-10 pound arena, I cut the amounts.

Pulled Pork (The Better Version)

1 pork roast (any size you want -- I make small ones because it's just me and DH)
Spice Rub
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon table salt
1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
Favorite BBQ Sauce
Water

Directions
- Rinse and pat dry your roast
- Rub the spices all over it. Really get in there. Love the roast (seriously, it makes a difference)
- Toss the roast in your crock pot, along with about 1 cup of water
- Cook it however you want -- 4-6 hours on high, or 8-10 on low. 
- When it's done, pull the pork out onto a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes, then shred it, using 2 forks
- Empty juices from the crock pot into a container, and return the shredded pork to the crock pot, turned on "warm" or "low"
- Gently re-introduce a little of the juice you set aside in the container. Start with 1/4 cup, mix it in, and if it looks dry, add a wee bit more.
- Mix in about half the amount of BBQ sauce you want to use. TWTCC recommends 2 cups total, but I never measure.
- Leave the meat on warm with the juices and BBQ mixture for about an hour
- Serve up on buns with extra BBQ sauce if so desired.

How To: Freeze Fresh Peaches




My dear DH acquired a bushel of beautiful local peaches for me late last week. I gave half to another baker-friend at work, but I still had 25 peaches to deal with!

After peach ice cream Friday night, peach milkshakes Saturday, and a peach cobbler on Sunday, I knew I had to find some way to store the remainder of my peaches before they went bad.

As I'm still in a teeny apartment, canning was out. No place to store it.

But I could freeze them!

I did some research on the proper way to freeze peaches, because I wanted to make sure they'd be useful in more than just smoothies when I defrosted them.

I came across a fabulous set of directions here -- and decided that if I didn't know the proper way to freeze peaches, other people probably didn't either -- so here ya go!

Freezing Peaches *
*This process is also recommended for plums, cherries, or nectarines

Step 1: Select Your Fruit
- Fruit should be sweet, and ripe, but not overly-ripe and mushy

Step 2: How Many Peaches?
- It takes 5-6 good-sized peaches (or 10 plums) to produce 1 quart of frozen fruit

Step 3: Prepare the Sugar (or other sweetener) Solution
- You can store your peaches in simple syrup, peach, white grape, or apple juice -- your choice!
- This sugar-y solution/fruit juice is added to help improve flavor and keep the fruit from turning nasty shades of brown while frozen
- This handy table came from the http://www.pickyourown.org website. It's handy if you're making a simple syrup to use for this process. 
- Choose your level of sweetness by how sweet your fruit is.
- To make the syrup: Heat the water on the stove, and slowly stir in the sugar/Splenda, until completely dissolved. Remove from heat, and let the syrup cool completely before adding to the peaches.
- You'll need about 1 cup of simple syrup per quart of peaches



Type of SyrupSugarWaterYield
Fruit juice (peach, apple or white grape)004 cups
Splenda (2 cups)06 cups6 cups
Light sugar2 cups6 cups7 cups
Medium sugar3 cups6 cups6 1/2 cups
Heavy sugar4 cups6 cups7 cups
Step 4: Wash the Peaches
- Seriously...you can handle this step on your own.

Step 5: Peeling the Peaches
- Don't do this by hand -- it's a pain!
- Bring to a boil a large pot of water, add the washed peaches for 20-45 seconds. Then remove with a slotted spoon and immediately place in an ice water bath for several minutes.
- When you remove the peaches from their ice water bath, the skins will be easy to peel off.

Step 6: Cut Up the Peaches
- Remove the pits and slice the peaches however you prefer -- slices, quarters, whatever
- Be sure to remove any brown or mushy spots

Step 7: Prevent the Fruit From Darkening
- You can use 1/4 cup lemon juice, or Fruit-Fresh to help preserve the peaches color
- Add your lemon juice or fruit fresh, and gently mix with your hands to make sure all your peaches are covered


Step 8: Mix the Peaches with the Sweetener Solution
- In a large bowl, mix your sliced peaches, and 1 cup of the completely-cooled simple syrup (or fruit juice) 
- Fill Ziploc bags (use the freezer style!) or Tupperware containers with peaches and simple syrup (Quart ziploc's work perfectly, but all I had was Gallon!)

Step 9: Freeze
- Place containers of peaches in the freezer to harden up. 

To Use:
Set them in the fridge overnight, or on the counter for a couple of hours to thaw.

Turning Failure into Deliciousness

Ladies and gentlemen, I've had my first bread failure.

Seems like everyone's been making pita bread lately -- I saw it here, and here, and here, and here -- and a dozen other places, it seems!

So I dove in. Things progressed nicely -- I felt the dough was a little sticky, but nothing to make a fuss about. I let it rise. Rose beautifully. I rolled it out -- worked fine.

But when I covered it and let it proof, nothing happened. The recipe I was using said 20 minutes of proofing should produce a slight "puff" -- and I had no puff.

A few hours into the process at that point, I wasn't turning back. It rose, everything worked, except the proof...and I still have no idea why.

So I tossed it in the oven, and hoped for the best.

The end result was flatbread. Since I didn't get "puff" in my proofing stage, I didn't get "pockets" in my pita. But I did make a mighty tasty flatbread!

Admittedly, I'm still irritated at it -- mostly because I don't know what was wrong. I may try again, but not until my hatred for pita settles down.

Left with 8 slabs of flatbread, I had to figure out what to do with it. I fed several to DH -- in a variety of forms -- for lunch.

And with spaghetti on Friday, I finished them off as garlic breadsticks. A quick mix of oil and minced garlic (yes, from the jar -- I loves me some pre-minced garlic), brushed on the flatbread, then a sprinkling of italian blend shredded cheese, and some lovin' from the broiler....


And man -- they were JUST as good as Papa John's, or Domino's or whoever!

YUM YUM!

(DH tells me I need to screw up pita more often!)

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Ryan's Zucchini Cakes

After a (too brief) visit home to see family and friends, I was rewarded (begged to take?) a couple of zucchini home with me.

Since I like them, but DH does not, I set out to find a recipe juuuust for me.

I settled on Ryan's Zucchini Cakes, from the Pioneer Woman's website.

These were pretty tasty, but I didn't have anything to dip them in (Ryan recommends ranch dressing). I think pasta sauce would have been tasty, as they definitely tasted "italian".

Ingredients
As much zucchini as you need to get rid of - shredded and squeezed of excess juice(I used 2 medium-sized zucchini)
1 tbsp minced garlic (I used the pre-minced stuff - LOVE. IT.)
1/2 - 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup italian blend cheese
1-2 eggs (depending on the consistency of the "batter")
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

Directions
- Toss your shredded and squeezed zucchini in a large bowl and throw in the garlic, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (you can add more if you need to later), the italian cheese, 1 egg, and some salt and pepper
- Mix with a fork -- if your mixture isn't a wet batter, add another egg and mix some more
- Heat 1/4" of oil in a skillet
- When oil is hot, lower globs of the zucchini batter into the oil; press with a fork to make cakes
- Cook 2-3 minutes or until brown, then flip and brown the other side

- Serve warm with ranch dressing for dipping (or pasta sauce! I think it'd be tasty!)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Menu Monday

A little more cooking this week...

Sunday: Zucchini cakes
Monday: More free Omaha steak, steamed broccoli (or corn...DH's pick), pasta
Tuesday: BBQ Pulled Pork (attempting to re-create how I made it "accidently" last time! Eek!)
Wednesday: Chicken Kafta with Cucumber Yogurt sauce, the broccoli/corn we didn't eat Monday
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Spaghetti with meat sauce

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Portable Breakfast is Awesome

My Google Reader runneth over here lately with recipes that I can totally rationalize making. 

Don't get me wrong -- I've probably got 200-300 recipes bookmarked that are things *I* would never eat, or DH would never eat -- but the pictures look so darn tasty, I convince myself I'll try it "someday".

But in amongst all those recipes are a few that -- upon seeing them -- I had to have. Instantly. This is one of them!

These little egg cups are wonderful. Apparently everyone is getting into the portable-egg-muffin craze. I first saw them at Our Sweet Life, and then again on several-other-blogs-who's-names-escape-me.

Like Beth, I get completely and totally bored with my rotation of oatmeal, and pb& j on whole grain. Those are my two workday breakfasts. And after 6 months of a work training schedule which required my breakfast to be totally portable (no microwave, no bowl, no NOTHIN') -- I am completely sick of PB&J. In every sense and flavor.

So this week I whipped up a batch of egg muffins. The recipe makes 6, and I plan to take 2 muffins per day for a few of my workdays this week (the days I have access to the microwave!)

Now, Beth's are probably WAY healthier than mine, because she used soy sausage. But textured vegetable protein and I are in a Crusades-like war, and I hate the stuff. It's disgusting. It's not food. 

/end rant

My egg muffins include a little bit of bacon, and a little real cheese (versus low fat) -- cuz that's what we had, and I used so little it wasn't a big deal.

Egg Muffins
Makes 6

5 eggs
1/4 cup 1.5% milk
Shredded cheese (I had a mexican blend this week, but use whatever you want/have/need to get rid of)
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach (Mine was partially thawed, so I squeezed some of the extra water out before adding to my eggs)
1/3 cup diced onion (I used fresh onion, Beth calls for frozen)
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
dash of hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
- Spray a 6-muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray (I only have 12-muffin tins. I sprayed 6, then put 1-2 tablespoons of water in the other 6 to ensure even cooking. Worked like a charm)
- Whisk the eggs, milk, and hot sauce
- Add the onions and spinach, and stir in the crumbled bacon. Mix well.
- Use a ladle (or a 1/3 cup measure if you're me...) to fill each muffin cup almost to the top (they do rise a little)
- Sprinkle each filled cup with shredded cheese
- Bake at 375 for 45 minutes -- the egg will appear totally cooked and look a bit golden when finished. (I let mine cook to a nice golden brown...I love that)

With the type of bacon and cheese I used, stats come out to...

Per Muffin:
Calories: 139 
Carbs: 9 
Fat: 7
Protein: 9

Monday, August 4, 2008

DH Cooks...


DH makes us dinner a few nights a week, usually. This is one of his favorites: steamed broccoli, buttered noodles(in this case it looks like he was finishing up elbows and added in bowties...), and steak.


Last night, as we're sitting down to dinner, he proudly holds out his plate and says "You should blog this."


Here ya go, DH :-)

Blueberry Crumb Bars

Everybody's mad for blueberries these days! 

These little numbers showed up over on Smitten Kitchen, and -- like most things Deb makes -- the pictures were so crisp and clear, you could almost TASTE them through the computer screen.

I had to have them. 

They really are delicious. My blueberries were just a weee bit tart, and I probably should've added a bit more sugar, but I pretty much followed the recipe exactly.

I also love that they're EASY. So many crumb bar recipes are too many ingredients and too much time!

Mm, mm, mm!!

Blueberry Crumb Bars
(Deb says she got 36 bars. Apparently I cut bigger than her - I got 24)

Crumb
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of 1 lemon

Blueberries
4 cups fresh blueberries (Deb does say you can use frozen!)
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch
juice of 1 lemon

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 9x13 pan
- In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in the salt and lemon zest
- Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend the butter and egg into the flour mixture. Dough will be crumbly
- Pat half the dough into the prepared pan
- In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries
- Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the prepared crust
- Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown (Deb said, and I agree, that this took an additional 12 minutes for me in my oven!)
- Cool completely before cutting into squares


Sunday, August 3, 2008

Menu Mondays

No dinner blogs this week -- DH and I are both busy! I did do a bit of cooking Sunday, and will post the recipes throughout the week.

Sunday: Kuldunai, blueberry crumb bars, egg muffins
Monday: Steak (more free steaks!), broccoli, pasta
Tuesday: Girls Night for me, DH may fish
Wednesday: Rev's baseball game -- DH and I will eat at the game,probably
Thursday: Turkey sausage subs with peppers and onions, baked beans
Friday: Spaghetti