Who wants potatoes?

uncategorized 17 Comments

Ohai. I dropped off the face of the earth for a little while, there.

Not really, but I did go to Disney World with a now-four (!) year old for his birthday.

Can I make it up to you with some goodies?

Betty Crocker sent me this pack through My Blog Spark and it’s pretty fantastic. The Yankee loves him some instant mashed potatoes so he was quite pleased. My favorite thing to do with them? Use the roasted garlic flavor for making these yeast rolls — voila, roasted garlic bread!

Who’s up for your own prize pack? My Blog Spark will send you two boxes of Betty Crocker Boxed Instant Mashed Potatoes (one Roasted Garlic and one Homestyle Creamy Butter), a serving bowl, a trivet and a serving spoon. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me how you like your mashed potatoes. As-is? With lots of butter? Cheese? Chives? Lay it on me. I’ll pick a winner via Random.org after midnight, Tuesday the 21st of December.

Taco sauce

lunch, supper 7 Comments

I looked around at a lot of different taco sauce recipes and none of them seemed exactly right to me, so I kind of cobbled together my own according to what I had on hand. Very tasty!

Taco sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 small can tomato sauce (8 oz)
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 2 Tbsp. white vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes or so until all the flavors get to know each other pretty well
  2. Store in fridge, cute jar label optional.

 

Sweet breakfast polenta

breakfast 1 Comment

I came across this recipe a while back at Joy the Baker. Comfort food for breakfast? I’m obviously in for that. And I like that it’s something a little different; not that breakfast casserole is anything to turn your nose at (duh), but it’s fun to shake things up every once in a while, right?

Sweet breakfast polenta

Ingredients

  • 1 cup polenta
  • 3 cups cold water
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • sprinkle of cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Measure polenta into a small bowl and add 1 cup cold water; stir and set aside
  2. In a medium saucepan bring 2 cups cold water and 2 cups milk to a low boil; stir in salt, then slowly add the polenta/water mixture, whisking to keep the lumps away
  3. Simmer until the polenta is thickened, stirring frequently; this can take anywhere from 10-40 minutes depending on how coarse your polenta is, so keep an eye on it
  4. Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon to thickened polenta, then serve topped with milk and an extra little bit of brown sugar (because, hey, why not?)

Keep warm, kids!

Cutie Cake

baking, dessert 10 Comments

I am SO HAPPY with how this turned out!

I really wanted to make a clementine cake this year before they’re gone again, so I picked up a little crate then looked up a couple clementine cake recipes; what I found were flourless cakes involving springform pans, which I don’t own (oops). So I decided to take a different route and adapt an old Betty Crocker applesauce cake recipe to include clementines. It’s so good! The whole process makes your house smell amazing and the taste is incredible too!

Hi, I’m gushing.

Anyway. The prep for this involves cooking the clementines for a couple hours first so leave yourself ample cooking and cooling time.

Cutie Cake

Ingredients

  • 5 clementines
  • 1 cups Craisins
  • 2 1/2 cups + 1 Tbsp. AP flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. nutmeg
  • sprinkle of allspice
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Put the clementines in a pot and pour in enough cold water to cover; bring to a boil then cook at somewhere between a simmer and a boil for two hours; drain and cool, then halve the clementines and run them through a food processor (that’s right, the whole fruit) until you have a smooth puree
  2. Preheat oven to 350F and grease and flour a Bundt pan
  3. Toss Craisins with 1 Tbsp. flour and set aside
  4. In another bowl mix remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice; stir well and set aside
  5. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy, then add in eggs one at a time, mixing after each till well incorporated. Now alternate adding in the flour mixture and the pureed clementines until batter is smooth, then stir in floured Craisins
  6. Spread batter evenly in Bundt pan (mixture will be a little thick) and bake at 350F until a toothpick comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes; cool on a rack then sprinkle with powdered sugar

I do hope y’all try this. Let me know what you think!

Peppermint syrup

dessert, drinks 15 Comments

This is another one of those “I can’t believe I ever spent money on this” sort of recipes. I love those!

Last year I sweet talked a barista into selling me a bottle of peppermint syrup so I could have my own peppermint coffees at home. You know, for less than $6 a cup. This year I thought I’d go one better and make it myself. As with so many things, it is ridiculously simple to make on your own.

Peppermint syrup

Ingredients

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 tsp. peppermint extract

Instructions

  1. I did this in the microwave in my trusty Pyrex but in a saucepan on the stove is fine too — just stir together the sugar and water and heat till the sugar dissolves, then stir in the peppermint extract (which, I have found, varies a lot from bottle to bottle, so be sure to taste and adjust accordingly)

You can also replace the peppermint extract with vanilla for quick and easy vanilla syrup.

That’s all, folks! Then add about a tablespoon to your coffee, hot chocolate or whatever floats your boat. Enjoy!