{SRC} In the Kitchen with….

…a creative cook. Someone who loves to create good food for her family. Someone who started a blog because she wanted to share her requested recipes with family and friends. LYNSEY!  Of LynseyLou’s who is making our days delicious!!  And she did.  

Lynsey started blogging in 2008 because she was simply inspired by another blogger.  And, it was her way of sharing her recipes with the friends and family who asked for them.  Lynsey, that’s the same reason I blog.  Keep on, Lynsey.  You have some darn good stuff on LynseyLou’s.

So many good things that, as usual, it was hard to pick just one.  So I went with …

DINNER:  

Spicy Sausage Casserole

Which everyone in the family loved.  Rotini pasta mixed with sausage, lots of cheese, Rotel tomatoes, and onions.  While Lynsey used turkey sausage I used a local smoked sausage.  It was delicious!

A couple of nights later I needed a good filling side:

Sweet Potato Wedges

Roasted in the melted butter and cinnamon.  Perfect.  I am a big fan of sweet potatoes and always stock up when they are in season.  These will definitely see their way into the oven again.

And I saved the best for last:  DESSERT!

Peanut Butter Pie

Which The Man said was the best PB pie he had ever had.  {Thank you, Lynsey!}

Forgive the drizzle on top – it came out way faster than I expected.  But it’s the taste that counts, right?

• 2 Cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 8 Oz (1 bar) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 Cups peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
• 1 Cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 Graham cracker crust, homemade or store bought
• 1/4 Cup semi sweet chocolate

Place 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream in a medium bowl with two tablespoons of sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.

Place cream cheese and peanut butter in a large bowl and beat on high until combined.  Gradually add confectioner’s sugar and beat until incorporated.  Increase speed to high and beat an additional 1-2 minutes, until mixture is slighly airy.  Gently fold the whipping cream into the peanut butter mixture.  Transfer mixture to the cooled pie crust.

Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave in 15 second incremints, until completely melted.  Fill a piping bag, fitted with a round tip with the melted chocolate and drizzle the pie with the chocolate.

Whip the remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Spoon the whipped cream onto the center of the pie.  Drizzle with additional chocolate, if desired.

Place the pie in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving, to allow to set     {adapted by Lynsey from Paula Deen}

Lynsey was my assignment for Secret Recipe Club.

Were there more recipes from Lynsey I wanted to try?  You Betcha! But I had to choose just a couple for SRC.  The hardest part of being a member is choosing.  The fun part is discovering new bloggers and their wonderful, tasty recipes.  There is more from The Secret Recipe this month.  Just follow the frog!

WordPress dot com:

Advertisement

 

{SRC} What DOES Debbie Do?

Debbie does DELICIOUS!!!

In more ways than I can count!

And lucky for me she was my assignment for June’s Secred Recipe Club.
For once I did not have any trouble picking a recipe. I WANT to do ALL of them!! But since I only had two weeks and there are TONS of delicious, healthy recipes on Deb’s site, I had to settle for two, or maybe three…

Before we start with the Recipes…Debbie of Debbie does Dinner is a mom and home cook who decided that dieting was the pits unless you had good tasting food. She has adapted and developed tons of recipes that are healthy, delicious, and lower in calorie. Thanks, Debbie. These are just what I needed.

Okay, now for the food!! Breakfast: A Breakfast Smoothie to be exact. With lots of fruit and dairy and SPINACH!! Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking. SPINACH? In a smoothie? But it totally works. AND it means more fiber and protein. Yep!

All those beautiful healthy colors!!

10 strawberries
1 banana
1 handful of blueberries (or blackberries)
6 oz. low fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup low fat milk
1 big handful of baby spinach

Put all of the ingredients into a blender and mix until you reach desired texture. If you want it cold and icier, freeze the fruit before putting in the blender. {I used all frozen fruit.}
While I make smoothies quite often I have never put spinach in one. There were lots of little pieces of green, red, and blue from the spinach and berries. Great start for the day. {Original Recipe}

And Dinner meant QUINOA. Debbie has several quinoa recipes on the site. If I had had some Sun-dried tomatoes I would have made this one but the Mexican Quinoa was awesome.

Mexican Quinoa

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup yellow corn
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp dried cilantro
2 cups quinoa, rinsed
3 cups veggie broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. oregano
Salt and pepper

Boil the onion in about 1/4 cup of veggie broth in a large saucepan.
When it is soft add the garlic, cumin and chili powder and cook for about a minute. Add the quinoa, broth, diced tomatoes, corn, oregano, salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Lots of wonderful flavors in this one. The only change was to add some corn and put some dried cilantro IN the saucepan with the other ingredients. It was a tasty side. For lunch the next day I added some diced roasted chicken. YUMYY!

And Dessert! Of Course!

And lucky for us she had a cheese cake recipe. Lucky because that is our favorite dessert. And then, even better, it had PEANUT BUTTER and CHOCOLATE!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Filling:
2 (8 oz) bars cream cheese {Lower cal with fat-free}
3 eggs
3 egg yolks {I used Egg Beaters}
1 cup Splenda
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1 cup creamy peanut butter

Topping:1 cup fat free sour cream
1 cup milk chocolate chips
2 tbsp. light brown sugar

DUMP all the ingredients into a food processor. Process until it becomes a silky smooth mixture.
Pour the filling into a springform pan (9″ or 8″) and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the the oven and place it aside allowing it to cool just a bit.
Warm the sour cream and milk chocolate with the brown sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Gently whisk to blend in the chocolate as it melts, then take the pan off the heat.
Gently pour topping on top of cheesecake and put back into the oven for about 15 minutes.
Cool cheesecake completely before eating. The chocolate topping will harden in the fridge.
Debbie’s original cheese cake had a crust but I made mine crustless. {Original Recipe}

I have so many of Debbie’s recipes pinned. It was hard to pick and I still have to try:

Lemon Yoghurt Muffins
Blueberry/AlmondAmaretto/Quinoa Crisp
Apple Fritter Bread and her
Tomato Basil Bread

Just to name a few.

So hop (Get it – Blog HOP) on over to Debbie’s blog and try some of her DELICIOUS! recipes.

 

{Let’s Lunch} Just 3 Ingredients….

Once a month I get to cook/bake with an awesome bunch of bloggers who live all around the world. Each month a theme is announced and then we all get busy and find something that goes with the current theme. Sometimes it is easy – PIE! Sometimes it is hard – literary meal! This month I thought would be difficult but it turned out, once I got my thoughts straight, to be quite simple. Come up with a dish using just 3 ingredients!!!

Now how on earth can you make any…… nevermind. Lots of things are possible

How about MAC AND CHEESE?

2 cups elbow macaroni
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cook elbows in salted water until al dente and drain. Return to saucepan.
Add in 1/2 and 1/2 and grated cheese.
Stir until cheese melts and the mixture is thick and creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

OR how about Peanut Butter Cookies?

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 egg
1/2 to 1 cup sugar (and you can sub out about 1/2 of that for Splenda if you like.)

Peheat oven to 325.
Mix the three ingredients together.
Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake 8 – 10 minutes.
EAT!!

Okay I could go on but thought I better quit with two goodies. But that’s not all there is for lunch. Check with the other Let’s Lunchers by visiting Linda over at Free Range Cookies who is hosting our lunch this month.

 

{Ice Cream Sundae} Peanut Butter Swirl

We, or rather B, eats a lot of ice cream. And although I LOVE Ice Cream I haven’t been eating it because of the sugar. I take small bites of everything I make/bake that contains sugar just to test/taste but that is it. So when I made this ice cream I used 1/3 of the sugar and finished the rest with Splenda. It’s a compromise, but I feel better about making it that way.

This is based on the Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream from Saveur

2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup smooth natural peanut butter
2 cups heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract (or 2 vanilla beans, scraped.)

1. Pour the cream and milk into a medium-sized stainless steal bowl and place over a steaming pan of boiling water.
2. While the mix is scalding, cut the vanilla beans in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Add the pods and seeds and sugar/Splenda mix to hot milk and seep for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally to mix in the sugar. Remove pods from mix.
2. Remove bowl from heat and slowly stir in 1/2 cup of Peanut Butter until mix is completely smooth. Add corn syrup.
3. Chill mixture in the fridge until cool (or overnight for a fuller flavor).
4. Pour mix into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
5. Transfer to a bowl and quickly swirl in remaining 1⁄2 cup peanut butter, cover, and freeze until hard.

By waiting until after the ice cream is churned and adding the PB you end up with large swirls of PB.

OH! MY!
Just Right!

 

{TWD2} Crisps, Pies, and Torts! How sweet it is!

I’m sorry!

What month did you say it was? MAY!! How did that happen. Didn’t we just have Christmas? New Years?

Time just flies by!! Too quickly sometimes! But we make the best of it….

And we do that by BAKING! Lots and lots of baking! At least I do because I am doing TWD catch-ups. At least there are 5 Tuesdays this month. Two reserved for Baking with Julia, the NEW TWD! And three for catch-ups. WHEW!

In 1958 I was living just outside Liverpool (you know, BEATLE City!) We had a huge house in a little village (Rainhill) and there was a garden in the backyard. In that garden we had RHUBARB. Lots of RHUBARB! I remember liking it as an 8 year old but that was lots of years ago. Did I still like it? Only one way to find out!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Double Crisp

I have to admit I didn’t expect to like this. I tasted the Rhubarb before slicing it up and putting it on the crust and it was NOT what I remembered. But in the crisp it added a touch of tart to the sweetness of the strawberries. Admittedly, I did not use as much as Dorie called for (1 lb) but it was enough to taste the tartness. The sliced rhubarb is scattered over the bottom crisp layer, covered by a sweet strawberry filling over which another layer of crisp is scattered. YUM!! is all I have to say. The ginger (but not the crystallized) added a certain amount of zing to the crisp and cuts back on the sweetness of the filling. It. Was. Good! And just because – I added a slightly sweet gingered whipped cream on top. I liked that!! Just enough ginger to compliment the ginger in the crisp.

This crisp was selected in April 12, 20ll by Sarah of Teapots and Cakestands where you can find the recipe. Or find it on page 420 of BFMHTY.
BTW this is a double catch-up because it WAS an April recipe but there was not rhubarb to be found in April.

*****************************

Now! May!
May 6th, 2008, the TWD group all came together over a Peanut Butter Torte.

Imagine a fluffy Peanut Butter Mousse filled with chopped peanuts, flavored with espresso, poured into an Oreo Cookie crumb crust flavored with nutmeg and cinnamon, topped with chocolate ganache and you have this torte!! OH! MY! HEAVEN! IF you like PB and IF you like Chocolate, that is!
As is the case, the espresso served only to heighten the taste of the chocolate. And since the cinnamon and nutmeg are in the crust it doesn’t overpower the mousse itself. The SIL said it tasted like a PB Cup. I think it is MUCH more than that! MUCH MORE!! Definitely a repeat here.

I made 1/2 of the recipe and it fit nicely into a 5″ springform with just a tad left over for, eh…. tasting!! Yeah, that’s it. TASTING!!

Thank you, Elizabeth of Ugg Smell Food, great choice. Elizabeth’s page is no longer available, but I did find the recipe on Susan’s blog. And it is on page 282 of Dorie’s BFMHTY.

************************

May 13, 2008, TWD visited Florida – kinda – with a wonderful lime and coconut pie chosen by Dianne of Dianne’s Dishes

Florida Pie

What we have here is a creamy lime meringue pie combined with a creamy coconut layer on the bottom. Can you imagine the combo – lime and coconut (Yeah, I know. You are singing the song, too! So were all the other TWD bakers on this one!!!) The coconut layer added a little ‘chew’ to the pie. The lime was faintly there and just the perfect level of tartness for the sweet coconut. Coconut is also mixed into the meringue. Everyone liked this one!

1/2 of the recipe resulted in two 6″ mini pies. Just right for two people.

Look on page 340 of BFMHTY for Dorie’s recipe. And you can find the recipe on Dianne’s blog.

 

{TWD2} Gooey Chocolate, Buttery Lemon, and Ice Cream.

April is going to be a busy month of baking. Since 2008 when The TWD Group started I have missed 9 of the recipes. I will try VERY hard to finish them this month. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

April 1, 2008, the bakers made Dorie’s Gooey Chocolate Cake. Basically it is the Molten Chocolate Cake that was so very popular years ago. I made one, once, years ago. This is the first one since then. The recipe is made in muffin cups which means everyone gets there own little chocolate cupcake with a warm liquid chocolate center. Unless they are made in MY kitchen.

I used a cupcake bundt pan and baked them for only 10 minutes. When we cut into them they were warm and wonderful…

….and SOLID!!!

Lava fail!! Lava fail!!

But delicious with a touch of whipped cream on top. I will try those again.

The cake was chosen by Leigh of Lemon Tartlet where you can find the recipe. Or on page 261 of Dorie’s book.

**********************

From Warm Chocolate Cake we go to Ice Cream.

Coffee PB Cup Ice Cream Tart

Dorie gave us lots of leeway with this Ice Cream Tart. While it was supposed to be made with coffee store bought ice cream I am not a coffee fan so I went with another variation. Using Dorie’s Vanilla Ice Cream base I made ice cream and tossed in some chopped PB Cup minis. Dorie made her crust with almonds but says we could use other nuts so I went with Honey Roasted Peanuts. Since the peanuts are salted I left out the salt called for in the recipe. THIS. WAS. GOOD. And so easy. Make a crust, throw in some ice cream and call it delicious.

Thanks to Jessica of Domestic Deep Thought for her cool pick. TWD made this on April 5, 2011. And after looking at Jessica’s tart I realized I forgot the layer of chocolate on the bottom of the tart. GOOD reason to make it again!Dorie’s tart recipe is on page 358 of BFMHTY on Jessica’s blog.

*******************************

April 8th, 2008, was the day TWD bakers made Mary of Starting From Scratch‘s pick of this buttery Lemon Tart…

The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

THIS was a very BUTTERY tart. VERY Buttery!! I served it with a little raspberry coulie

Dorie says to chill the custard filling until ready for use. I did that and it turned hard. I had to bring it to room temp plus in order to put it into the crust. Not sure what I did wrong, but…..

The butter flavor overpowered the lemon flavor. Again, I am not sure where I went wrong. Still good tho’! Mary’s blog is no longer live but you can find the recipe on several blogs including Ashley’s Eat Me Delicious or on page 331 of The Book.

 

{CEinMB} Peanut Butter Split Smoothie

Smoothies!! They are big these days. Not just the ones you can out but the ones you can make it. They are delicious, nutricious, and quick for breakfast.

This PB smoothie IS nutritious but I was really disappointed in the flavor – there was none!! The banana overwhelmed the PB. With only 1 1/2 TBL of PB there wasn’t enough to flavor the smoothie. I added 1/2 of an artificial sweetener packet and that helped some, but it’s not one I make again. Sorry, Ellie.

Chekck out the other CEinMB members this week and see what they made.

The smoothie recipe is on page 42 of The Food You Crave.

 

{SRC} She is NOT Grumpy!! He is!!

The Life and Loves Of Grumpy’s Honeybunch

Don’t you just love that name??

Shelby’s site is just as interesting as her blog’s title. Interesting because it has such a great mix of recipes. From Bread to Venison, from decadent to healthy (Weight Watchers), you can find it all on Shelby’s site. And so so many I wanted to try. Unfortunately life got in the way and I ended up with only time to try two. So I made the choices good ones.

“Keeping Grumpy Happy” was the title of the post containing Italian Bread using a Bread Machine. It is a free form loaf that starts in the bread machine. The machine does all the work, you get all the taste. Since we are allowed to modify recipes I decided to make…

Asiago Italian Bread

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup freshly shredded Asiago Cheese {this is all I added to the mix}
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons cornmeal

{BTW! I cut the recipe in 1/2 so the bread DID have a lot of cheesey flavor!!}

Place flour, brown sugar, warm water, salt, olive oil and yeast in the pan of bread machine in the order recommended by manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press start.
Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into two loaves and place seam side down on a cutting board generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise, until doubled, about 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small bowl, beat together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the risen loaves with egg mixture. Make a single long, quick cut down the center of the loaves with a sharp knife. Gently shake the cutting board to make sure that the loaves are not sticking. If they stick, use a spatula or pastry knife to loosen. Slide the loaves onto a baking sheet with one quick but careful motion.
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

I was afraid that a whole cup of cheese would be too much, but it turned out to be the perfect amount. I like to be able to actually taste the cheese in a cheese bread. Good plain, buttered, or toasted!!

************************

Despite the fact I had several ‘meal’ recipes picked out I only got to dessert – Traditional Peanut Butter Cookies. According to Shelby,

“The peanut butter cookie recipe comes from “Feeder’s Digest” which is a cookbook that was put together by locals in the Dekalb-Hermon Senior Citizens club back in 1974.”

Don’t you love the older local cookbooks put together by schools and churches, etc. I have several myself and can always find something to make from them.

These are definitely traditional but definitely tasty. They are traditionally flattened with a fork but I chose to just scoop some and let them flatten on their own.

1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. crisco
1 c. peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 c. flour

Mix together well. Roll in balls. Flatten with fork and bake at 375 for 8 – 10 minutes.

1/2 of the recipe gave me 26 cookies. I baked two sheets worth but had a little dough left over so I threw in a few chocolate chips. PB and Chocolate = TASTY!!

These cookies were made as part of a Baking Gals post. Shelby is one of hundreds of bakers who supply goodies to our troops overseas!! GO Shelby!!

NOW!! About those recipes I wanted to make – I will get to them….

Meatball Crepes
Crab and Swiss Quiche
Nancy’s Quiche
Scallop Carbonara with Asparagus

And that’s just some of the deliciousness from Shelby. Y’all really need to visit with her!!!

BTW Shelby was my ‘assignment’ for February’s Secret Recipe Club. Once a month we are given a blog to bake/cook from and then blog about our cooking adventures. It is a wonderful way to find new blogs and wonderful recipes.

 

{TWD} Dorie goes Nutty!!

NO, not really, Dorie’s not nutty, but this weeks TWD is. Peanutty.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

If there is one thing my family loves, it is PB cookies. If I am in a hurry, I make Unbelievable PB Cookies. If I have time I make Dorie’s. They are So Good. You can make them with crunchy or smooth PB depending on your own tastes. I like smooth and then I can add in more peanuts if I want. I have even been known to add some mini chocolate chips to them.

Often!!!

If you want the recipe, and I know you do, you can find it on Jasmine’s blog – Jasmine Cuisine – where you will also find lots of other yummy goodies.

And make sure you visit the other bakers and drool over their cookies.

 

Blogger Bites #427

There is just something about trying out recipes that normal, everyday people have made and liked. Many cookbooks come from test kitchens. They aren’t about what ‘real’ ‘normal’ people have made. Not saying there aren’t some great cookbooks out there. I have a few some okay LOTS in my library that acome from everyday people. But making/baking/cooking a dish/dessert found on another blogger’s page is different. And there are lots of terrific bloggers out there (You know who you are) who are cooking from their homes and sharing wonderful recipes with us.

I now have a go-to roll recipe that I use at least once a week.

I found this recipe on Romaine’s blog – Salad in a Jar.The dough starts in the bread machine and then you can make loaves or rolls. I prefer the rolls and have made them tons of times in different shapes and sizes. We especially love making larger (10 – 12) rolls to use for lunch. I usually weigh out 2.5 oz per roll. But they are also great for dinner rolls.

Finding a simple to fix dinner entree is not easy either. But Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures managed to find it.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork which I served on Romaine’s rolls. Perfect match. Tracey adapted the recipe from The Way the Cookie Crumbles (who got it, sort of, from her brother) and I changed it just by adding Tony’s creole seasoning. Since the first time I made it about 2 months ago I have made it twice more. Yes!! It’s that good and that simple.

And why you are visiting Tracey check out her Potato-Bacon Tart which she ‘borrowed’ from Melissa d’Arabian the New Food Network Star.

I made 3 small tortes from the recipe – each one different.

Clockwise from the top: Just as Tracey wrote it; mixed with Cheddar Cheese instead of Gruyere; topped with provolone. It was ALL good.

And of course you have to have dessert. How about Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pound Cake? Jessica posted this one earlier this week and it was just too good to pass up asap!

This was SOOO good. Chocolate chips. PB chips. PB in the batter. How can you go wrong with that. Well, you can’t (except i over baked it just a tad). Perfect simple dessert.

Thanks to all my blogger buddies who keep coming up with these excellent recipes whether adapted from cookbooks or self created. You have made my meal planning so much easier.