Nourish
Friday, July 4, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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Happy Fourth of July!
We are enjoying the holiday in Mazanita at our beach house. I love spending the Fourth there - complete with fireworks over the ocean and a parade. They throw candy from the floats except for the guy that owns the crabbing boats - he throws crab legs!
Some of our neighbors will be joining us at the beach for the holiday and we will be serving this week’s Friday Favorite for dessert. So onto this week’s favorite….
I have learned that one of the easiest ways to teach your children a skill is to pay someone else to do it!
I spent years teaching other woman’s daughters to sew - most of these women were seamstresses themselves.
There are some children that are just better taught by someone other than their mother! My youngest daughter is one of them. It only took me a few hair pulling, screaming matches to figure it out! (That was me pulling out my own hair not hers and both of us raising our voices a bit!)
So several summers ago I enrolled Tessa in a summer baking class. Someone else needed to teach her to bake.
She loved the class and now is she is as good a baker as I am.
Each day, in class, they would make a new type of cookie and bring home the recipe and samples. The samples were always in some type of cute packaging. The teacher believed in one of my life lessons - “It’s all in the presentation!”
Some were almost too cute to eat, although we never let that stop us.
The one cookie she made that summer that we have made over and over again is Butterscotch Blondies. It is a bar cookie so it is a perfect cookie for the summer - quick and easy.
Although we have enjoyed these cookies many, many times I have never actually made them. Tessa is the official Butterscotch Blondie baker at our house - no one else is allowed!
So if you are looking for a non-chocolate bar cookie this recipe is perfect. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Butterscotch Blondies
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 x 9 pan. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, blending well. Stir in butterscotch chips and nuts, if desired. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown and center is set. Do not over-bake. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, June 27, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Sticky Coconut Chicken is definitely a Wilkes Family Favorite. It is one of our favorite ways to grill chicken in the summer. We really don’t call it Sticky Coconut Chicken at our house though.
We call it “Tar” Chicken. It earned it’s nickname from the sauce that you put on the chicken - you cook it until it is almost as thick as tar!
I don’t know where this recipe came from. It’s been in my recipe collection for years and it is a good one. The recipe calls for chicken thighs which is what I use all the time. Not only does it make it an inexpensive meal to serve and a great one for parties but the dark meat makes them nice and moist.
The chicken is marinated in coconut milk with some ginger and red pepper flakes. You can control how spicy it is by the amount of flakes you add to the marinade and to the sauce.
Watch the sauce closely as it thickens - it can go from “just right” to “burned” very quickly. (Believe me, I have burned it more than once!) I usually cook it in a frying pan so the liquid level is shallower and it cooks faster that way. You want it thick but not so thick that you can’t spread it easily - not quite as thick as “tar”!
After glazing the chicken we like to pour the extra glaze over our rice - yum!
I always serve it with rice - last week I used a brown basmati rice from Trader Joe’s.
Sticky Coconut Chicken or “Tar” Chicken
6-8 boneless chicken thighs
3/4 cup canned coconut milk (I usually am cooking about 10-12 thighs so I just use the whole can)
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
Marinade chicken in coconut milk, ginger, pepper and red pepper flakes at least one hour. Grill on barbecue.
Chili Glaze:
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
Bring above ingredients to a boil over high heat and cook until mixture is reduced and thickened. 8-10 minutes depending on the size of your pan. Glaze both sides of chicken and serve.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Strawberry season is in full swing here in Oregon - despite the lack of sunshine the first part of the month it looks like we’ll have a great crop. Our little strawberry patch out in the garden is going crazy! Now if we can just keep the mean old black crow away!!
Tessa and I made 3 batches of strawberry jam today and still have lots of strawberries to pick! My kids are spoiled and will only eat homemade jam with their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so we really have to stock up each summer.
One of our “first strawberries of the season” recipes is Strawberry Pizza, a sure sign that strawberry season is here. It is from my favorite cookbook - Portland Junior League Portland Palate.
I never have trouble finding the recipe because it is the dirtiest page in the cookbook - a true sign of a great recipe!
The pizza is made with a sugar cookie type crust, a layer of cream cheese and then strawberries and glaze on top - kind of sounds like the Strawberry Pie from last week - just in a different form! Guess I have a thing for strawberries and cream cheese.
The crust ends up being a bit fragile so it can be a bit messy to eat. I just use my pizza cutter to slice it up. Enjoy!
Strawberry Pizza
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
Filling:
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Topping;
1 cup fresh strawberries, mashed
4 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
8 - 10 strawberries sliced.
Crust:
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and butter. Form into a ball with hands and press into a 14 inch ungreased pizza pan (I used my Pampered Chef pizza stone)
Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.
Filling:
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and lemon juice. Spread on cooled crust.
Topping:
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine strawberries, sugar and cornstarch. Simmer until thick and glossy. Cool. Spread on top of cream cheese filling.
Cut fresh strawberries crosswise to make rounds that resemble pepperoni, place on pizza and serve (I actually sliced mine the other way - oops!)
Popularity: 17% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Since I had a partial bottle of Key Lime juice still in the refrigerator left over from the Key Lime Cake last week I decided to try a new key lime recipe - you can never have too many key lime recipes!
This recipe is one I found on Good Eats ‘n Sweet Treats- a food blog I enjoy. The cookies are a bit of work as you need to make the key lime curd first but they are worth it. I made the lime curd the night before and just kept it in the refrigerator overnight.
My cookies weren’t quite as thick as the ones in the picture on Good Eats. Next time I think I will add a bit more flour. The directions say the dough should be stiff but not dry and I don’t think mine was quite stiff enough. But they tasted great! Just the right amount of lime tartness.
Key Lime Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup key lime juice
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups prepared key lime curd, recipe below
1 cup powdered sugar, for sprinkling.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and the lime juice, and mix well.
In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture until incorporated. Dough should be stiff but not dry. Shape into 1 inch balls, press thumb into center of balls to make an indentation, being careful not to press through to the bottom. Fill indentations with about 1 Tbsp. key lime curd.
Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool.
Key Lime Curd
3 eggs
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup key lime juice
1 tsp. key lime zest (I didn’t have a fresh lime so didn’t add this)
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the remaining ingredients, whisking continuously for approximately 8-10 minutes or until it becomes a custard. Remove from heat and continue whisking for another 1-2 minutes.
Allow to cool and then pour into a container and refrigerate. The curd will thicken considerably as it cools. Makes approximately 2 cups.
Popularity: 27% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, June 13, 2008, by Leigh Anne
The baseball team of choice at our house is the Seattle Mariner’s. Well, if you have been following baseball at all lately you know that the Mariner’s aren’t doing too well - in fact they are doing terrible but we still love them! We’ve been attending Mariner’s games up in Seattle at Safeco Field for years .
O.K. - those of you who really know me know that I’m not much of a sport’s fan. In fact, the only games I like to watch are ones my children are playing in. But my boys - all three of them are HUGE sport’s fans and I mean HUGE!
I do agree to go along to the Mariner’s games once or twice a year, as long as I can take a book, - yes, I read at baseball games! I mainly agree to go because I get to go to the beautiful city of Seattle, eat Fish ‘n Chips on the pier, visit Pike Street Market and I get to eat Mariner’s Fries!
I go to baseball games for the food and for a baseball stadium Safeco Field has pretty good food. One of the first things you smell when you enter Safeco Field is the amazing aroma of garlic fries. They are so good and so garlicky!
This week’s Friday Favorite is my version of Mariner’s Fries. I made them on Memorial Day along with Oprah’s Favorite Turkey Burgers (they are so yummy!!) I made my own fries but you could easily just use frozen french fries too.
The first time I made these I didn’t put the garlic and parsley topping on all the fries thinking one of the girls might not like it, but I was wrong. They loved them and I ended up adding the reserved fries in with the rest. In fact when Cali saw me writing this blog post she said - “You need to make those again!”
Oven Roasted Fries
Non stick vegetable oil spray
2 pounds unpeeled russet potatoes, scrubbed, cut lengthwise into wedges
2 Tbsp. canola oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Spray large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Toss potato wedges with canola oil in large bowl. Sprinkle potato wedges generously with salt and pepper; spread in single layer on prepared baking sheet. Roast potato wedges until tender and brown in spots, turning occasionally, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add Garlic and Parsley Topping
Garlic and Parsley Topping
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 cup garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian Parsley
Heat oil in heavy small skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic, saute until golden and beginning to crisp, about 1 minute. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic to small bowl, cool. Mix in parsley. Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.
Popularity: 38% [?]
Categories: Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008, by Leigh Anne
You know that I love lemon and have shared lots of Lovely Lemon recipes with you. Well, it only stands to reason that if I love lemon that I would also love lime! And I do!
Today’s recipe is a yummy, easy dessert for lime fans! It is moist and tart. We had it, along with that yummy Almond Cake, for Cali’s graduation party last week. Our neighbor Rod was invited and anytime Rod is invited to a party at our house you will find Key Lime Cake - he loves it and we love him! (Actually my mom made it for me because I was running out of time!)
I have also served this for dessert at a church dinner. We just added a raspberry sauce - it was yummy and it looked pretty too!
Key Lime Cake
10″ bundt pan, greased and floured
1 package lemon cake mix
1 4 oz. pkg. lemon instant pudding
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup key lime juice (I used Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice)
Combine the cake mix and pudding mix, add the eggs, vegetable oil, water and key lime juice and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.
Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 25 minutes. Then invert onto a wire rack. Return the cake to the pan and pierce with a wooden pick.
Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup key lime juice
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. melted butter
Powdered sugar to dust cake
Combine powdered sugar, key lime juice, water and melted butter and beat until smooth. Drizzle over the warm pierced cake and let stand until completely cool. Invert onto a serving plate and dust with additional powdered sugar. garnish with raspberries or strawberries.
Note: The cake in the picture actually has a powdered sugar icing drizzle that my mom added instead of powdered sugar
Popularity: 42% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, June 6, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Before I share this week’s Friday Favorite I wanted to show you a few fun ideas I used at the graduation party for Cali and Hannah we hosted last Saturday.
My friend Sherra shared these ideas with me after she attended a graduation party of a neighbor. They are so cute and they got rave reviews at our party.
Aren’t these the cutest little graduation caps? They are made from chocolate covered graham crackers and mini Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. For directions visit Sherra’s blog. I used red and blue M & M’s since those are our school colors. I also used red and blue Fruit by the Foot for the tassels.
Here is the other fun idea we used. I cut the school’s initials out of Styrofoam, frosted them and then covered them with coconut. We then used the letters to hold the fruit kabobs we made. Caution: The frosted Styrofoam may be mistaken for actual cake and people may attempt to eat it!
Everyone loved it and several of the parents asked to borrow the letters for their grad parties so they are making the rounds!
The Friday Favorite recipe is one of the cakes I served at the Grad Party. This recipe was given to me by one of my direct sales team members - Cathy. Every time I have made this cake it has gotten great reviews -and I’ve made it lots! So thank you Cathy!! At the party on Saturday I must have had 10 people comment on how delicious it was.
It is so simple and easy to make and it is a great alternative to the traditional chocolate Texas Sheet Cake and of course I love the almond flavor! It is made in a large jelly roll pan so it makes a lot. There are actually no nuts in the cake - the nuts in the picture were just for decoration.
Texas Almond Sheet Cake
1 cup butter
1 cup water
Place above ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Let cool a bit. In another bowl combine:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
In another bowl add together:
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract - not imitation
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
Spray jelly roll pan with cooking spray, bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes just until lightly brown. Let cool 30 minutes.
Frosting;
Combine and bring to boil:
1 cup butter
1/4 cup milk (heaviest)
Then add 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tsp. almond extract. Frost cake and eat!
Popularity: 44% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, May 30, 2008, by Leigh Anne
This week’s Friday Favorite is by popular request. This is my mother’s recipe and I have actually never made it - only eaten it!
I attended a luncheon yesterday hosted by my friend Daurie who recently built and moved into her beautiful new home. She treated a group of us to a delicious lunch at her new home. She served my mother’s Pasta e Fagioli. The request at lunch was for me to “put in on the blog”.
I told them I couldn’t because I didn’t have my camera and needed to take a picture of it - my ever ready, camera toting friend Jeanette had her camera and happily took a photo for me. I had already eaten my soup so I borrowed someone’s bowl - took it right off the table from them - and took a quick photo!
Pasta e Fagioli is a traditional Italian soup and actually means “pasta and beans”. It is traditionally made with a white or cannellini bean but I think Daurie used a red bean. She also tweaked the recipe slightly by adding 1 cup of grated carrot instead of chopped and a 16 oz. can of marinara sauce to make it a little thicker. She also found this totally darling teeny, tiny bowtie pasta!
We have been having some cool, rainy days here in Portland so a bowl of homemade soup really hit the spot yesterday! Thanks Daurie!
Pasta e Fagioli
Mary Anne Best (my mom)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 cups (1 can) chopped whole tomatoes, with juices
3 cups low sodium chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 can northern white beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup tiny pasta (ditalini)
1/2 pound browned ground beef (optional)
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped parsley (optional)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (Daurie served cheddar)
In a large heavy pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Stir in onion and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic, celery and carrots and cook for 3 minutes. Add basil and oregano and toss to coat. Stir in tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. If necessary add an additional cup of stock or water and stir in beans, meat and tiny pasta. Simmer for 6-8 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in parsley and serve hot with grated parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!
Popularity: 43% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008, by Leigh Anne
The last few months I have been on the hunt for the perfect sugar cookie. The perfect sugar cookie would be one that did not need to be rolled out or refrigerated, would have an almond flavor and a yummy almond frosting on top.
You see, I found the perfect sugar cookie at a small little deli in Kalama, Washington. Kalama is about an hour north of Portland, too far away to visit on a regular basis to satisfy my sugar cookie cravings! I love their almond sugar cookies - and I wanted to find a way to create them at home.
I tried numerous recipes - some close but not quite right. I shared my quest with my blogger friend Melanie at My Kitchen Cafe. Melanie sent me several almond sugar cookie recipes and I tried them all and guess what?! One of them was a winner! Another food blogger had shared it with Melanie and then she shared it with me and now I’m sharing it with you! Thank you Melanie.
So today’s recipe is for what I think is the perfect sugar cookie! They don’t need to be refrigerated or rolled out - they have a lovely almond flavor and a yummy almond frosting. They are slightly crisp around the edges and soft in the middle. They are even better the second day!
Almond Glazed Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Mix butter, sugar and extract in a large bowl. Beat until cream, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Beat 1 to 2 more minutes. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness with the bottom of a buttered glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 400 for 7-9 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Cool 1 minute. Move to a wire rack. Stir together glaze ingredients with a wire whisk. Decorate cooled cookies with glaze and sliced almonds (optional)
Glaze: 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. almond extract, 4-5 tsp. milk (I used whipping cream)
Popularity: 48% [?]
Categories: Cookie Jar, Nourish, Recipes
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Friday, May 23, 2008, by Leigh Anne
This week was Senior Quilt Night at church. It is an evening where all the girl’s graduating from high school are honored and the women from church and young woman come together to tie quilts for each of the graduating girls. I was in charge of the dinner for the evening - yes, that is the second large group meal I have been in charge of this week - will someone please slap me!!!
Here is a cute picture of Cali and I wrapped up in her soft, fuzzy green quilt we made using ‘Minky’ fabric.
We served the yummy Penne Rustica, another Friday Favorite, along with roasted garlic bread and a spinach/strawberry salad. We served a fun, easy summer time dessert. The couple of warm days we enjoyed earlier in the week got me in the mood for summer so I decided to make Lemonade Pie.
It doesn’t get much easier than Lemonade Pie - it only has three ingredients.
Can of frozen lemonade (I used pink)
A graham cracker crust (since we were making 7 of these pies we used store bought)
1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream (I used Breyer’s)
My wonderful, helpful mother came over and put all the pies together for me. Just put the somewhat, softened ice cream along with the can of frozen lemonade (no water added) into the Kitchen Aid and blend it up. Pour into graham cracker crust and refreeze. I like to add the whole can of lemonade but if you want it a bit “less lemony” just don’t add as much lemonade.
Enjoy a taste of summer!
Popularity: 41% [?]
Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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