Tag Archives: comfort

Skillet apples

baking, breakfast, dessert 5 Comments

This is another one of those recipes that I have written down on a scrap of paper and tucked away. I have no idea where it came from, but it’s so yummy.

It’s also what I had for breakfast this morning. Is that wrong? It’s fruit, people.

Try this. Seriously. Gather:

  • 1 skillet (I used my smallest cast iron)
  • 2 Granny Smith apples
  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • Sprinkle of nutmeg

And then:

  1. Core and slice apples (uniformly sized pieces are your friends so they’ll cook evenly; you can also peel them if your little heart desires, but I dig the peels)
  2. Melt butter in skillet
  3. Add apples, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to skillet and stir to combine and coat apples (note: the mixture will look a little dry at first and you’ll be tempted to add more butter, but don’t; as the apples cook down they’ll get nice and juicy and everything will be great)
  4. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes or until apples are nice and tender and sauce is starting to thicken
  5. Serve for breakfast

I can neither confirm nor deny that these are crazy good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Just sayin.

Eggnog

drinks 2 Comments

Confession: I wasn’t sure I’d like this. I remember making eggnog all the time when I was a kid (sans rum, obviously), but at some point my mama started getting creeped out by raw egg consumption and nixed it. That was so long ago I wasn’t sure I’d even still enjoy it.

These days I live on the edge. I drink raw eggnog. I eat raw cookie dough. I do not, however, run with scissors; I’m pretty sure my mama would rise up and strike me down, and no one wants to see that happen.

Since eggnog and I were just getting to know each other again I made a small batch using Alton Brown’s recipe:

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, plus 1/2 tablespoon
  • 1/2 pint whole milk
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 ounces bourbon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 2 egg whites

For the living-on-the-edge uncooked version:

  1. Beat yolks until their color lightens (I did this in a large glass bowl with a whisk). Slowly add 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until all sugar is dissolved. Add milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg, stirring to combine
  2. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. While mixer is still running slowly add 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and continue beating until egg whites are at stiff peaks
  3. Pour yolk/milk mixture into stand mixer and mix just till combined
  4. Chill and serve!

For the taking-no-chances cooked version:

  1. Beat yolks until their color lightens (again, large glass bowl with a whisk works great). Slowly add 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until all sugar is dissolved. Set this aside
  2. Set a medium saucepan over high heat and add in milk, cream and nutmeg. Bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat. Slowly and gradually temper the hot milk/cream mixture into the eggs and sugar, stirring all the while.
  3. Once combined, pour everything back into the saucepan and cook until inserted thermometer reads 160F degrees. Remove from heat, pour into medium mixing bowl and stir in bourbon. Set in the refrigerator to chill
  4. Using an electric or stand mixer, beat egg whites to soft peaks. While mixer is still running slowly add 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and continue beating until egg whites are at stiff peaks, then whisk egg whites into chilled mixture and serve

Verdict: fantastic stuff! Even The Yankee liked it, and he was nearly positive he wouldn’t. This is also crazy good with amaretto instead of rum. Give it a try!

Russian tea

drinks, kids 7 Comments

Russian tea recipe

Can I just say, for the record, I have no idea why this is called Russian Tea? I don’t. But I DO know why I’ve kept this recipe, written on orange construction paper, for so long: it is SO GOOD. I used to be a preschool teacher, and the teacher in the next room over gave me this recipe forever ago. Every year I make it it’s just as good as I remembered! There are a lot of versions floating around out there, but this one has never failed me. You will need:

Russian tea mix

  • 2 cups Tang mix
  • 1/3 cup lemonade mix
  • 3/4 cup instant tea (recipe says decaf; I use fully leaded because I have a 3 year old)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. ground cloves

Then just mix it all in a bowl and store in a jar — so easy that this is a great project for the kids to help with. To serve, pour one cup of hot water over 1 Tbsp. of tea mix (grownups only with the boiling water, obviously).

This mix looks very pretty in little jars for presents, along with some sugar spice craisin nuts.

I must confess, though, my favorite thing to do with this tea is to enjoy a steaming cup of it in the afternoon with a little plate of cookies. It’s downright civilized, I tell you. My two favorite accompaniments for Russian tea this year are these buttered rum meltaways from Erin’s Food Files, and these shortbread cookies from The Novice Chef, my two bloggie sisters in crime. Try them… you won’t be sorry!

Russian tea

Krispy Kreme bread pudding

baking, dessert 18 Comments

With bathing suit season upon us, you may be thinking it’s time to lighten things up a bit. Try some grilled fish, some raw veggies, some fresh fruit.

Or you may be thinking that life is short, and you really should eat a big ol’ mess of Krispy Kreme bread pudding.

It’s always good to start with this:

If things go horribly wrong and you never even get a chance to cook, you still have two dozen donuts. And not just donuts — Krispy Kreme donuts. A gift from heaven.

The Kiddo’s Aunt Burgle was in town, and we have a tradition: our weekends together always include shopping (probably shoes), Cracker Barrel, Krispy Kremes and wine. Our days after our weekends together are spent wondering why our jeans are suddenly tight. But I digress.

So this weekend we thought we’d branch out and try something new with our KK donuts. We bought two dozen, leaving one to eat plain, just in case the pudding wasn’t great.

Our fears were unwarranted.

I looked at this recipe at Recipezaar, and this recipe from Paula Deen. The first one looked a little more involved, and we had to keep an eye on our assorted children, so we were hoping for super easy. The second recipe was easier, but Aunt Burgle’s sprouts weren’t fans of fruit cocktail or raisins, and we didn’t really think it appropriate to dish up rum butter sauce for a bunch of kids (we had grand delusions of sharing at the time). So in the end we winged it and went with:

  • 1 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, cut into chunks
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 7 oz (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon

To assemble:

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Cut donuts into chunks and put in a large bowl
  3. Beat the eggs and add condensed milk, salt and cinnamon
  4. Pour egg mixture over donuts and let it sit about 30 minutes, stirring every so often
  5. Butter a small casserole dish and put donut mix in dish, uncovered
  6. Bake for 30 minutes or so until custard is mostly set

We wanted more donut than custard, and this was just that. Enough custard to hold the donuts together, but not so much that it overwhelmed the yummy KK flavor and texture.  This would be awesome served warm with vanilla ice cream!

We ate it warm that night. And then room temp later that night. And then cold for breakfast the next morning. Purely for research, of course, and I’m happy to report it was fabulous at all temperatures. I do hope you understand the sacrifices our hips we made for this research.

Cultural divide Casserole

supper 15 Comments

It’s cold here. Yes, it’s the South and I am a big baby about cold but I swear: it’s actually cold.

And cold, of course = comfort food.

This is where the cultural divide comes in. One of my favorite comfort foods is a dish my mother used to make:
~ ground beef, browned and drained
~ cooked pasta, usually elbow macaroni
~ red sauce, pretty spicy with lots of garlic and Worcestershire sauce
~ cheese, usually mozzarella and Parmesan

Everything is mixed together in a casserole dish and baked at 350 for about 40 minutes with a little extra cheese melted on top at the very end of the cooking. My mom called this Italian casserole.

My husband, The Yankee, calls this goulash.

Say what?

Goulash in my house involved runny-nigh-onto-watery tomato sauce with whole tomatoes and it involved egg noodles. Yeech.

So, my Italian casserole — what would you call it?