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This turned out to be super simple and a quick preparation. The recipe comes from Taste of Home and they have a nice video of the preparation. It was SO good that I made it again the next day using gluten-free flour (Namaste Perfect Flour Blend) and it turned out great, too. I used fresh raspberries, but I’m going out on a limb to say frozen would work, too. The most delicious part of this dish is the lemon goodness inside the pinwheels. Genius!
- RASPBERRY SAUCE INGREDIENTS
- 3-4 cups raspberries
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 Tbsp. corn starch
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 cup cold water
- PINWHEELS INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup flour (regular or gluten-free)
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 Tbsp. shortening
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 2 Tbsp. half-and-half cream
- Flour (regular or gluten-free) for the rolling surface
- 2 Tbsp. melted butter
- 2 tsp. grated lemon zest
- 2 Tbsp. melted butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the raspberries in an ungreased 8×8″ or 11×7″ baking dish.
In a saucepan, stir together sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in the cold water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils and thickens. Pour this syrup over the raspberries. Bake at 400 degrees F for ten minutes. Remove from heat.
While the raspberries are baking, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter or knives until the mixture is crumbly. Combine the egg with the half-and-half cream and stir it into the crumb mixture to form a stiff dough.
Shape the dough into a log and then, on a lightly floured surface, roll it out into a 12×6″ rectangle. Combine the butter, zest, and sugar. Spread it on top of the dough to within a half inch of the edges. Roll the dough starting on the long side, jelly-roll style. Cut the roll into ten slices. Pat each slice slightly to flatten, then place them atop the raspberry sauce.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until pinwheels are golden. Remove from heat and serve warm or cold. Tastes great with ice cream or cream.
GLUTEN-FREE NOTES . . . the three pictures above are of my gluten-free product. My dough was far too stiff, so I should have added more half-and-half cream, but I didn’t add enough. The dough was on the verge of crumbling apart, but I was able to get it to roll. Whew! When I patted the slices to flatten them a bit, they didn’t hold their shape very well because the dough was too dry. Ah, well. IT WAS DELICIOUS! The third picture in this series is so you can see what it looked like from the side after it was baked. The raspberries were so beautiful through the glass baking dish. A good photographer could have a great time with this recipe.
More notes about this recipe . . . it was super, super simple to prepare, but it did make a lot of dirty dishes. This is always a concern for me. Anyway, you will need a baking dish, saucepan, mixing bowl, and vessel to melt butter and make the pinwheel filling. That is in addition to the measuring cups and pastry cutter. Just be prepared. I had never treated raspberries this way and that’s why I thought it was genius to pour the syrup over the berries. So often a raspberry recipe ends up mushing the raspberries because they are an incredibly fragile fruit. But this recipe does not require one to stir the raspberries . . . ever. It’s so beautiful!
I really love asparagus. My favorite way to cook it, so far, is roasted in olive oil with sliced shallots. This salad is another favorite of mine. I’ve made it many times. I like to serve it with Eggplant Parmesan. It’s based upon a recipe I found at cookingclassy.com.
- Salad Ingredients (all measurements approximate — just eyeball things)
- 1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 lb. fresh asparagus, trimmed and sliced into 1″ pieces
- 1/4 – 1/3 lb. grape tomatoes
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- Dressing Ingredients (all measures approximate — again, just eyeball it)
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp. honey
- Small clove garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper
Toast the walnuts. I spread mine out on a pie tin and place it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. Don’t forget about it! Shake it around every few minutes until the walnuts are brown and smell toasted. Set aside. Let cool.
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan or skillet. Add the asparagus pieces and set the timer for 4 or 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain the asparagus. Let the asparagus run under cold water while you’re filling a small bowl with ice. Set your strainer in the ice bowl and add water until the asparagus is covered. Let it cool down quickly. Strain again.
Mix all the dressing ingredients together and whisk or shake until it is all incorporated.
To an appropriate-sized serving dish, add the walnuts, asparagus, and sliced tomatoes. Stir in the dressing. Just prior to serving, sprinkle on the feta cheese crumbles. Serves 4.
It’s Cobb Salad y’all! I do love it. I make this with any variety of things. Pictured is a 32-cup Tupperware bowl, so you can mentally figure my quantities. Can you see what’s in the bowl?
Today I used one whole chicken breast, boned and skinless, sliced into thin strips. I marinated it for a short while in about 3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. dried rosemary, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I added salt and fresh-ground pepper as it was put into the saute pan. I stir-fried the chicken slices over very high heat in olive oil until it browned quite nicely. Then I let it cool down so as not to wilt the salad. I have also used lemon-pepper and another time I used a southwest seasoning and another time just salt and pepper to season the chicken. I do this differently every time I make it. Whatever you feel like doing at the time will be fine.
Also in this particular salad is a base of two small heads of torn romaine lettuce, a couple handfuls of baby spinach leaves, three hard-boiled eggs, five slices of crispy oven-fried thick bacon, sliced green onion, grated sharp cheddar cheese, pitted and sliced black Kalamata olives, three sliced mini sweet peppers, sliced grape tomatoes, sliced green onion, one and a half chopped avocado, and chopped cucumber. Just before I serving, I sprinkle on croutons. Where is the bleu cheese, you ask?
My dad gives me an entire round of Stilton every Christmas. I slice it into wedges, vacuum-seal the wedges, and freeze them for use throughout the year. I usually run out around early November. Bleu cheese dressing goes well on salads and sandwiches, so I make a lot of it. My Cobb Salad is always served with Bleu Cheese Dressing. Always.
- Bleu Cheese Dressing
- Mayonnaise
- Buttermilk
- Garlic powder
- Worcestershire sauce
- Bleu cheese, crumbled
Stir the mayonnaise to get out any lumps, thin it to a dressing-like consistency with buttermilk. Stir in a dash of garlic powder and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Stir in crumbled bleu cheese. Let it sit awhile, if you can wait.
This is a recipe that I make often. It’s not fussy and is low-carb. My house smells great while it is simmering all afternoon. It is gluten-free. It is based upon the recipe found at foodnetwork.com. On the day I took these photos, I served the Chile Verde with Spicy Sweet Potatoes and Corn Pudding.
- Ingredients
- 1-1/2 pounds tomatillos
- Vegetable oil
- 4 pounds pork roast (butt or shoulder is best, but I used a lean loin), trimmed of fat and cut into 2″ pieces
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
- 3 onions, chopped
- 2 green bell peppers, seeded and chopped into 1″ pieces
- 2 Anaheim or poblano chiles, seeded and chopped into 1″ pieces
- 2-3 jalepeno peppers, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1-1/2 tsp. ground coriander
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock
In prepping the tomatillos, this is what I do, but I’m sure there is a better, more flavorful way. I’m just going for the easy way. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by covering with foil. I do not oil or grease the foil. Peel off and discard the tomatillo husks. Rinse the tomatillos. Slice in half and place each half, skin side up on the prepared baking sheet. Roast until brown spots appear on the skins. Remove from oven and let cool. Turn off your oven, you’re done with it. Once the tomatillos are cool, chop them. This is sort of messy. Set the tomatillos aside.
Heat a very large cooking pot. Swazz a bit of vegetable oil into the bottom. Liberally salt and pepper the pork pieces. In batches (mine was 3 batches), over high heat, brown the pork cubes and then set aside. Add more oil as necessary.
In the same pot, add the onions and bell peppers. Saute until the onions are translucent. Add the chiles and the jalepenos. Saute awhile longer. Add the garlic and saute a little longer. Stir in the prepared tomatillos, oregano, cumin, coriander, bay leaves, and cilantro. Add the pork back into the pot. Add enough chicken stock to cover the meat. Season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer, uncovered, over low heat for 2-3 hours stirring occasionally until the meat is fork tender. Add chicken stock as needed. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Yields 6-8 servings.
Legs tired, we chose an outside table at a restaurant in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and collapsed into chairs, ordering dos cervezas. It was a pleasant afternoon on the plaza, watching the world go by. We asked the waitress what was good to eat and she recommended Plantain Cups. They really hit the spot that day. Once home, I tried to recreate the dish because of how delicious they are. Plantains are readily available here, but I’ve never cooked with them before. I found a recipe at SimpleByClara on her Dominican Cooking website and used her basics of how to make the cups. They are really yummy and quite easy to make. I’m still not sure how to select a plantain at the grocery store and I suspect what I’m choosing are not as good as they could be, but it’s a work in progress.
- Ingredients for Cups
- 3 large (or 4 medium) ripe plantains, peeled
- 1 tsp. salt
- Oil for basting
Cut the plantains in half and place into a large saucepan. Try to disabuse yourself of the notion that these are bananas. They’re not. They’re more like potatoes. Add water to cover and add salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until plantains are soft, about 15 minutes. Remove plantains from water and let cool a little. Mash the plantains. I always end up using a food processor, which works well. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not cooking them long enough or if they’re old plantains. In any event, mine are always too hard to mash by hand, but the food processor works great.
Prepare a muffin tin by spraying or greasing. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Mashed plantains are sticky, and so it’s easy to form the cups. Grab a handful of mashed plantain and press it into a muffin cup. Make them very compacted. I got 10 plantain cups last time. Brush oil lightly over each cup. I used olive oil, but any type of oil should work.
Bake at 425 degrees for about 18-20 minutes.
Remove from oven and fill with your favorite topping.
The ones we had in Puerto Rico were filled with little tidbits of spiced beef and a tasty sauce. Here is what and how I did what’s pictured (they were delicious), but I’ll probably never make these the same way twice.
I cut beef Tri-Tip Steak strips into 1″ cubes. I sprinkled taco seasoning over the meat. I preheated a skillet on high heat and added a bit of olive oil. I added the meat to the pan and seared it on all sides as well as possible. I removed the meat from the pan and set it aside. To the skillet I added diced onion, diced sweet mini peppers, and diced garlic. I let it saute until the onion was translucent, then I added some chopped jalepeno peppers. I stirred the beef back into the pan and cooked a bit longer. I scooped a little bit of the filling into each plantain cup, then sprinkled with Monterey Jack cheese. I baked at 425 degrees F for about 10 minutes. I served these topped with mashed avocado, fresh jalepeno slices, and salsa. Umm, umm, good!
Alternative fillings would be spiced chicken, cheddar cheese, beans and/or corn. Whatever you want to do will be great.
Another reason I like these is that it takes the place of wheat or gluten foods at dinner time. It’s something I can feed my relative with the wheat allergy.
This is my new favorite way to make polenta. It is so simple and versatile. I found the basic recipe at dinnerthendessert.com. I’ve only ever made half Sabrina’s recipe because it makes too much for us. Even so, I’d say half her recipe still serves six people. I think we could get away with halving it again, but I’ve been pretty happy using up the leftovers (think eggs over polenta-yummy!). I think any kind of cheese would do, it just depends upon what you’re going to serve with it. I’ve used Parmesan. I’d like to see a slightly firmer product, but I’m working on it. I buy polenta, but Sabrina says you can use corn meal. Lastly, she also says you can stir in a lot of different things, like shallots or garlic or lemon. I haven’t yet tried that.
Since there are no wheat products in this, I think we can safely say it is gluten-free. I use polenta in the same way I use mashed potatoes.
- Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 3/4 cup polenta
- 1 tsp. Kosher salt
- Dash pepper
- 1 or 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together water, polenta, salt, pepper, and butter in a 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream and cheese. Return to oven and bake another 10 minutes, uncovered. Serves 6.
This is a mishmash of several recipes. I am serving a family member with a wheat allergy, so gluten-free flour has solved that. I make sure to read the flour ingredients so there is no part of wheat in it. It starts with agirldefloured‘s adaptation of Hershey’s chocolate cake. I’ve made this twice now and they are really rich cupcakes.
2 cups sugar 1-3/4 cups gluten-free flour (I used Namaste Perfect Flour Blend) 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. salt 3 eggs, slightly beaten 1 cup milk 1/2 cup canola oil 2 tsp. vanilla 1 cup hot coffee
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 30 cupcake pans with paper liners.
Whisk the dry ingredients together well. Add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Whisk in the hot coffee. The batter will be runny. Evenly distribute into cupcake pans and bake until the centers bounce back when tested with finger, about 20 minutes. Let cool.
The next step is to make the mocha filling. That recipe is from myrecipes.
5 Tbsp. gluten-free flour (I used Namaste Perfect Flour Blend) 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder 2 Tbsp. instant coffee granules 1 cup half-and-half 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla
In a small saucepan whisk together the GF flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee and half-and-half. Over medium heat continue whisking for about 5 minutes until it is thick. Remove from heat and pour into a dish. Cover with plastic wrap, push it onto the surface so a skin does not form. Let stand for 30 minutes or until cool. I did not chill this and in retrospect I do not think it would work well if you did chill it. Stick with the directions.
Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add cooled mocha mixture, one tablespoon at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add vanilla and beat mixture until it’s the consistency of whipped cream.
And the final piece is the coffee liqueur ganache found at myrecipes.
12-oz. bittersweet chocolate baking chips 1-1/4 cups whipping cream 1 Tbsp. butter 2 Tbsp. coffee liqueur (Kahlua)
Place chocolate in bowl. Heat whipping cream just to boiling and pour over chocolate. Stir until smooth. Stir in butter and liqueur. Let stand until spreading consistency. It took longer than 45 minutes, keep testing this.
Assembly: Remove centers from the cooled cupcakes. I used a teaspoon to dollop mocha filling into the centers. I let the cupcakes then sit for a few minutes before using a tablespoon to pour the ganache over each cupcake. It firmed up fairly quickly then.
REALLY, REALLY YUMMY!
Credit goes to Annalise at Completely Delicious for the basic recipe and the idea for this piece of heaven. I am mostly posting this in order for me to remember how I did it.
My husband is a home wine maker. He usually buys kits that include a hermetically sealed bag of juice that he dilutes by adding water. His latest kit was called Strawberry White Merlot. It’s a low-alcohol-content “wine cooler.” What’s different about this particular wine is that he reconstituted his bag of juice with birch water that he tapped from our birch trees. Then oh, la, the wine was ready at the same time the rhubarb was ripe. A match made in heaven.
Rhubarb Filling Recipe:
You’ll have to wing this part, it’s what I did. I made my filling the night before I baked and finished the cupcakes. I wanted to give the filling a chance to really thicken. In a large saucepan, add 3 or 4 cups chopped rhubarb, 1 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp. water. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer until it’s thick. How thick? Filling thick. It was sort of like jam. Let cool and then chill, if possible. I was disappointed the next day to see liquid around the edges of my filling, like it had seeped. But in the end it was really fine. No problem at all.
The cupcake recipe:
Prepare for 15 cupcakes. I used paper liners, but you could spray or grease 15 regular “muffin cups”. However you usually do it. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup blush-colored wine
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Cream together the butter and the sugar in a mixer until it’s light and fluffy. In a separate bowl beat eggs and egg yolk, mix in the wine and almond extract. In another bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Into the butter mixture stir in about 1/3 of the flour mixture, then stir in 1/3 of the egg mixture, repeating by thirds until it’s all stirred in the mixer together. Beat briefly until it’s incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly into the cupcake liners or greased cups. Each cup will be about 2/3 full. I found this recipe to be true to quantity. Nice!
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Test by pressing lightly in the center of one of the cupcakes. If it bounces right back, it’s done. Mine took 18 minutes exactly. Like I said, this was a really true recipe.
Remove from the oven. I always let mine cool in the tins. That’s probably wrong, but I never have any raw centers. Let the cupcakes cool to room temperature.
Caveat: I can’t take pictures for anything.
Remove the centers from the cooled cupcakes. I have this REALLY handy device that cores the cupcakes. I kid you not. It’s a cupcake corer. Makes the task really simple. Before I got it, I used a piping tip (upside down) to cut out the center and then scooped out the rest with a small spoon. It’s not hard. The challenge is keeping people from popping those centers into their mouths. But why should you care, you’ll only throw them away once they dry out, right? So, go for it. Eat away. I envision someday making a trifle out of cupcake centers, custard, and fruit. Okay, now I’m thinking this through, it would be great with rhubarb!
Why rhubarb? What you see laid out on the lawn is a very small percentage of what’s growing at my house. That’s why!
So, once you’ve got the cupcakes made and cored, the filling ready to go, fill them. I used a teaspoon to scoop filling out of the bowl and then dribble it into the holes in the cupcakes.
Frosting recipe:
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
ΒΌ to 1/3 cup rhubarb filling
1-2 Tbsp rhubarb syrup (optional)
Pink food coloring (optional)
Once again, you’ll have to wing it. I put the butter into my mixer and softened it, adding 4 cups powdered sugar and then adding rhubarb filling a tablespoon at a time. I had earlier made a rhubarb syrup and I slowly added a couple tablespoons of it. [I had meant to make a simple syrup, but lost track of time and ended up with a very thick rhubarb reduction, not jelly but definitely not simple syrup. It is more like a rhubarb sauce without pulp. That’s it.] I also added a few drops of pink gel food coloring. Once you have frosting at the appropriate consistency for spreading, frost your cupcakes. I piped mine because I knew trying to use a knife over that loose rhubarb filling in the centers would be a mess, no thanks. So, as much as I hate piping because I’m so bad at it, I piped.
I took half a batch to my daughter’s workplace and they loved them! They are really good.
**Note: the next day, because I had leftover filling and frosting, I made another batch of cupcakes, but this time I used Namaste Perfect Flour Blend instead of all-purpose flour. I have a relative with a wheat allergy. They browned across the top, but it did not affect the flavor or the moisture. The cupcake corer didn’t get enough friction to remove the cores easily, so the cake’s crumb is much lighter than regular wheat flour, I guess. Everything else about it was good and they were enjoyed! See picture below . . .
As you can probably see, I didn’t have enough filling, or frosting, to do a second batch properly, but they were delicious none the less.
This makes a great side dish to burritos or barbecue brisket. It’s based upon a recipe found at Food Network. I don’t have frozen corn, never have, but I try to have canned corn on hand for occasional use.
Beat 4 ounces softened cream cheese, a 15-oz. can creamed corn, a 15-oz. can whole corn, 1/2 cup cornmeal and 1/2 chopped onion.
Stir in 2/3 cup milk, 3 Tbsp. melted butter, 1 beaten egg, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar, and salt and pepper.
Spread in a buttered 2-quart casserole dish and bake 50 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
