TWD: Clam Chowder Pie

 A little “TWD” Baking with Dorie… 

We made these very yummy and hearty “Clam Chowder Pies” featured on page 365 in Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook titled “Baking with Dorie - Sweet, Salty & Simple. WE made them as individual pies because there were some in our group that doesn’t care for sea food, so we made both clam and chicken. WE followed the same recipes with on;y the two following change, Clams/Chicken & Old Bay

Seasoning/Brown Butter Garlic Seasoning. The buttered oyster crackers on top was my favorite part. These pies were delicious and easy to make for both a planned party or a quick fancy dinner with unplanned guests. 

And of course as many know we are encouraged not to share the recipe, but I happen to know that you can sneak a peek on Dorie’s Instagram.

Throwback Thursday - “Baking Yesteryear”

 January 16... "Throwback Thursday"

We have been having so much fun reminiscing over our favorite childhood recipes as we browse through our new "Baking Yesteryear" cookbook, by B. Dylan Hollis. (Such a funny dude, we love his videos) 

Anyway, we thought today would be a great day to share with you all our two bakes so far for the month. 

We chose "Continental Johnny Cake" (corn bread) on page 78 and "Wacky Cake" on page 104. Both turned out fantastic. You will notice that the corn bread may look a little dark speckled in color, that was because we mixed yellow cornmeal and blue cornmeal together. 

Shepard's Pie

Every once in awhile some of the guys here at our house get a craving for Shepard's Pie. The only problem is we don't all like the same thing hidden under our potato topping. So today, for our super Saturday recipe, we are making individual/customized Shepard's pie. You can find everything you should need in the pantry... :)

To start off with, make your favorite burger, fry it or grill it, which ever you like. We sometimes use leftover BBQed Burgers. Next add two big tablespoons of you favorite veggies. Each one of us each have a different favorite. The veggies pictured are a frozen sugar snap pea blend that I like. Now top your veggies with your favorite gravy, sauce or leftover homemade soup. Then comes the best part, the mashed potatoes and cheese, about four tablespoons.

One of the biggest reasons I like this recipe is because it is a great way to get rid of little leftovers without your family complaining like mine does....

TWD: "Baking Chez Moi" - Granola Energy Bars

Our challenge today was to make these yummy Granola bars. They were very tasty but I like my recipe better, which is the one I have listed below...

INGREDIENTS 4 ripe bananas,  (peels should be brown with touches of yellow) 1/4 cup real maple syrup 2 Tablespoon honey 2 cups whole rolled oats 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds  (you could used pine nuts) 1/4 cup mixed nuts 1/4 cup dried fruits  (we used cranberries, currents and dates) 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. cinnamon  Dash of nutmeg 1/4 cup chocolate chips (we mixed milk chocolate, white chocolate and peanut butter chips) DIRECTIONS Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a potato masher, mash the bananas in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the syrup and honey, and stir to combine. Add all the other ingredients, Mix thoroughly till well incorporated.  Lightly coat a 9 x13 baking pan with shorting, (Lard would have been used back then), Press the banana-oat mixture evenly into the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into bars. We make ours about 2x4. Remove from pan, turn over and allow to cool completely on a paper towel or cooling rack to avoid soggy bottoms. Store in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator. Most recipes say you can keep them for about a week, but ours didn't last that long. We got 24 bars from our batch and they cost us about .22 cents a bar to make. They would have been cheaper but we used real maple syrup and dried currents.

"Tuesday's with Dorie" - Baking Powder Biscuits

Yummy.... Yummy... Yummy! I think I like these better than I do just a plain Old Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuit... and they were even better smeared with fresh homemade butter and homemade mixed berry jam!

lots of people struggle with making great biscuits, so here are a few tips...

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter (I used a glass, and it was fine), and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Pour about 1 cup of the cream over the dry ingredients, grab a fork and start tossing the ingredients together. If necessary, add more cream, a spoonful at a time, until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick, gentle kneading – 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even – a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of this first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting – just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14 to 18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket. Makes about 12 biscuits

You can check out other fans and fun recipes at  "Tuesday's with Dori".

"ATW80DS" - Funnel Cake (Finland)

It was a great day for all the monkeys at the zoo..... CUZ WE WERE THERE! We had a fantastic day, first off we stopped at Ted Drewer's Custard shop. Yummy! Yummy! Next we enjoyed walking around and checking out all the awesome animals. And then we finished off the afternoon with a very tasty handmade FUNNEL CAKE...

This is a theme park style funnel cake recipe. It cooks up Light and fluffy and the gets dusted with powdered sugar, best served hot! 

Funnel Cake

Ingredients:
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Funnel Cake Directions:
1. In a deep skillet, heat about two cups of oil over medium-high heat until hot. Test the temperature by dropping a pinch of flour into the hot oil. If it sizzles right away without smoking, it's perfect.
2. Beat egg and milk. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the egg mixture, beating until smooth.
3. Using a funnel, drop into hot oil working from center outwards in a web pattern. (You can use a gallon sized freezer bag instead of a funnel by pouring the batter into the bag, snipping off a small corner of it, and squeezing the batter into the oil.)
4. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, remove from the oil when golden brown and crispy.
5. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

"Tuesday's with Dorie" - Country Bread

The challenge for today was to make Country Bread and when I think of country bread I think of good old fashioned white bread. In doing some research of Colonial Days, trying to see if we can tie today's recipe in with our theme, we discovered that white bread was not really the bread of that era. And after making the recipe the goes with our challenge from Dori, it too is not white bread. And we discovered that the recipes are very simlar. This is a really good recipe, but we felt like this recipe needed a bit more salt and flavor. 

Martha Washington Devil's Food Cake

It just wouldn't be a good Colonial week, if we didn't finish up with a delicious   Martha Washington Devil's Food Cake Ingredients

• 4 squares (1 ounce) of unsweetened chocolate
• 2 Cups sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups buttermilk
• 2 Cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 Cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Prepare the Recipe

1. Melt chocolate in a saucepan over a very low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. Stir until well blended. Cool thoroughly. Mix half the flour with the baking powder, soda and salt. Cream butter, and gradually beat in the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar.
2. Continue beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each. Blend in about one-fourth of the flour mixture, then add the chocolate and vanilla. Alternately add the remaining flour and buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth.
3. Pour into two 9 inch greased and floured pans, and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Colonial Pork Chops

While reading and studying fun facts about Benjamin Franklin, we found out one of his favorite dishes was Pork Chops with succotash and biscuits.

Maple Glazed Pork Chops

6 apples
1 lg. onion, sliced
2 tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp. flour
1 c. any beer
1 c. real maple syrup
4 pork chops

Pare, core, and slice apples; add onion, salt and pepper. Place in greased casserole. Melt butter; blend in flour; add beer all at once. Stir constantly until thickened. Trim fat from pork chops; place on apples and onions. Pour beer sauce over all. Bake in moderate 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Yield: 4 servings.

 SUCCOTASH

• 1 quart large white Navy beans
• 1 pint yellow corn     
• 1 pound. Salt Pork both fat and lean.
• 1 large turnip
• 1 pint green beans
• 1 medium red pepper diced 
• 1 quart chicken stock
• salt and pepper to season.

1. Soak beans overnight
2. In the morning simmer until soft, and mash to a pulp.
3. Place pork  in cold water to cover, gradually bring to a slow boil: continue until tender, about 3 hours
4. Boil the chicken in another kettle about 1 and 1/2 hours, or until tender.
5. Place the mashed beans and hulled corn in a kettle with some fat and stock from the cooked meats.   
6. Simmer to the consistency of a thick soup. The beans should absorb the liquid but not become too dry.
7. Remove the meats to a warm platter to be served with succotash.
8. cut in small pieces the turnip and green beans, now add the rest of stock and cook until tender.
9. Now the hulled corn and navy bean mixture to the cooked vegetables  and simmer a few minutes to blend the flavors.
10. Serve the succotash in bowls and pass the meats to be added or to be eaten on the side as desired.

Wordless Wednesday's - RED FLANNEL HASH

Hint: All you Irish already should know what this is!

What is it?.........................

That's right! Red Flannel Hash 

• 2 cups cold cooked, meat     
• 2 1/2 cups potatoes (cooked)   
• 3/4 cup turnip (cooked)
• 3/4 cup cooked carrots     
• 1 cup cooked cabbage        
• 1 cup cooked beets 1/2 cup raw onions warmed in 2 tbs butter
• 1/4 tsp pepper,
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 teaspoons garlic vinegar

1. Dice vegetables and combine all ingredients in a black oven frying pan;
2. pour over all the 1/4 cup of water.
3. Cover and let cook slowly
4. Stir occasionally until thoroughly heated and flavors are blended.
5. Serve hot

Where does it grow?......... 

Does not grow... but is usually made from left-overs, yes I posted that correctly, from leftovers of Irish potatoes, cooked meats, mixed vegetables and a little salt and pepper.

How do you prepare it?....  

It is usually served with poached eggs and rye toast...

What does it taste like?.....  

Very Tasty.... if you like that sort of stuff.  Me, I have never quite acquired a liking for it. Maybe I am just not Irish enough... :)

Have you ever tried it?......

Yes... Many times two or three days after a great St. Patty's day party

What recipe would you suggest using this mystery Ingredient?.....

Because we like to use Corned Beef in ours, here is another really good recipe you can try.

1/2 lb. cooked corned beef, finely chopped
1 lb. cold boiled potatoes, finely chopped

1/2 cup cooked carrots chopped

1/4 cup green bell pepper chopped

1/2 cup sweet onion chopped

2 cloves garlic diced
3 drops Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp. butter
sea salt, to taste
cracked black pepper, to taste

Melt the butter in the water, add the other ingredients, and cook until thoroughly heated through, then put into a baking pan and place in the oven until brown on top.Serve with a white sauce or two poached eggs, if preferred.

Boston Brown Bread

It is no coincidence that the method used to bake this bread, known as steaming, is similar to one used by the native Indians of New England, who taught us how to use corn as a grain for bread. The most famous of our region's breads, this wholesome blend of wheat, rye, and yellow corn flours is suitable for our diets today as it was 300 years ago.

1 - 2 tablespoon unsalted butter for greasing
1 1/2 cups brown-bread flour*
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup dark molasses
1 cup milk
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins (sometimes they used dried cranberries)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Next generously grease a 1-quart pudding mold or 1-pound coffee can. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Stir in the molasses and milk. Fold in the currants.   Fill the mold or coffee can with batter. It should come up about two-thirds of the way. Cover the top with foil and tie securely with a string to make it airtight. Place in a deep baking pan and fill the pan with boiling water, to come halfway up the side of the mold. Place in the preheated oven and allow to steam for 2 hours, checking the water level after 1 hour. Add more boiling water if needed. Check by sticking a skewer into the bread; it will come out clean when done. Remove string and foil and allow cooling for 1 hour before unmolding.

*A specialty of New England, brown-bread flour is a mixture of whole wheat, rye and cornmeal or johnnycake meal. It can be purchased already mixed or made by simply combining equal parts of wheat and rye flour and yellow cornmeal.

Colonial Corn Chowder

On Saturday I came a crossed this really neat new Facebook page entitled The Founders, Religion and Government. And we decided that we wanted to be part of the Benjamin Franklin Project, so this week since the Virtue was Temperance and it deals with food, we thought it would be fun to research, study and make some colonial style dishes this week.

Today we are featuring Colonial Corn Chowder.

COLONY CORN CHOWDER

• 6 large soda crackers or biscuits       
  
• 1 cup milk   
• ¼ lb salt pork
• 1 good large onion, sliced
• 4 large potatoes, pared, sliced
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups of corn cut whole from the cob
• 1 ¼ tsps salt    
• ¼ teaspoon paprika

1. Soak crackers or biscuits in sweet milk.
2. Cut salt pork into cubes and brown over medium fire
3. Add onion and cook until soft.
4. Add potatoes and water, then cook until potatoes are soft but not all broken
5. Stir in the cracker-milk mixture, corn, salt, and paprika
6. Heat all through
7. Serve piping hot
8. Serves 8 people

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