French Vanilla Ice Cream

Today's recipe I'm sharing originates from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.  You know, THE Ben & Jerry - the guys that I'm thankful for bringing flavors like Cherry Garcia (low fat fro yo version is awesome, too!), Cake Batter, Americone Dream, and Peach Cobbler to my freezer.  I love this book because the recipes are simple and are sized for today's smaller ice cream makers.  I'm doubly delighted since this is a lot like my family's recipe we make in the large 4 quart machine on July 4th - just in a size fit for my Cuisinart ice cream maker.  Fair warning about this recipe and most of them in this book - they use raw eggs; this is not a cooked custard base.  If you have any concerns about using raw eggs, look for pasteurized eggs at your grocery store.  More expensive, yes - but can you put a price on peace of mind?

French Vanilla Ice Cream

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  Start off by whisking the eggs for about 1 to 2 minutes, until they are lighter in color and fluffy in texture.  Adding in a little at a time, begin whisking in the sugar.  Keep whisking until the eggs and sugar are completely blended, about another minute.  Pour in the remaining ingredients, and whisk until everything is combined.

  Pour into your favorite ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions on freezing.

Notes:  If you don't like the soft-serve consistency of straight from the ice cream freezer, feel free to put it in a plastic container and stash it in your regular freezer for a few hours.  I like it both ways, but I can also detect a distinct difference in chocolate syrup in a plastic bottle vs the can.  I will always take the can over the bottled, especially on homemade goodness!

Spinach Stuffed Squash or Zucchini

  This is one knock-out dish - squash dressed to the nines.  Another Paula Deen creation for you to enjoy.  It can be made with zucchini or yellow summer squash; my favorite is made with zukes, but this last trip to the store, the yellow squash was so much better than the zucchini.

Spinach Stuffed Squash or Zucchini

6-10 servings

Ingredients

3 large zucchini or 5 medium/large yellow squash  (this last batch was made with 3 large yellow squash)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup chicken flavored stuffing mix (dry - do not prepare)
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz by weight)

  Start off by preheating the oven to 400°F.

  Cut your squash in half lengthwise.  Brush the cut sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Lay  them on a lined baking sheet, with the cut side down.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Let the squash halves cool down a bit, and lower the oven temperature to 350°F.  Once the squash is just cool enough to handle, scoop out the pulp into a bowl, taking care not to break your "shells".  Lay the squash back on the baking sheet, this time, cut side up.

  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Toss the diced onion in and saute until they are transparent, around 5 minutes.  (I personally like to cook mine until they turn slightly brown and take a bit of caramelized quality to them.)  At this time, add in the stuffing mix, spinach, cheese, squash pulp and sour cream, mixing everything together.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the heat.  Scoop the stuffing mixture evenly as you can into each squash shell, and return to the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serving Ideas - These are great served with fried chicken livers. (Don't knock it until you try it!)  But they are pretty filling if you buy the large squash/zukes, so serving 1-2 halves as a meal isn't too shabby, either.

Helpful Tip - A potato ricer does a nice job squeezing dry thawed frozen spinach. 

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

  This beauty is my biscuit pan - makes drop biscuits look awfully purty.  The recipe I'm sharing today is designed to take advantage of a cast iron pan, whether it's a drop biscuit pan like this, or even a skillet or griddle.  This recipe is from Lodge Cast Iron, and is also featured in Cast-Iron Cooking for Dummies.  The biscuits will come out tender and fluffy like a drop biscuit, but with the taste of a good ol' buttermilk biscuit.  At the end of my post, I'll include variations from both sources.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

Makes 7 biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or vegetable shortening -- cold
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

  Preheat your oven to 450°F.

  In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients together.

   Make sure you are using cold butter or shortening, and cut into the dry mixture with a pastry blender, fork or knife method. The mixture will have a coarse crumb consistency when you are ready for the next step.

  Pour in the buttermilk, and stir just until everything is blended. Take care not to overmix.

Drop Biscuit Pan method: If you have a drop biscuit pan, spoon in the dough into each well, filling it pretty full. I used a 7 well cast-iron pan. If you don't have a pan - see the next step.

Skillet or Griddle method: Mound the dough into about 7 biscuits onto your griddle or in your skillet. (Make sure these are oven-proof!).

  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Variations:

For parsley biscuits, add 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley.

For a garden vegetable biscuit, add 2 tablepoons finely grated carrots, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley, and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped green onion.

Broccoli Salad

  Back to school means back to packing lunches for me.  So while digging through my tried and true files, I was reminded of one of my favorite, easy sides - Broccoli Salad.  One of the things I really like about this recipe is the yield - 2 servings.  No getting tired of it before it's gone!

Broccoli Salad

Servings: 2

Ingredients

2 cups broccoli florets
2 bacon strips, cooked & crumbled
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 tablespoon sunflower kernels
1/3 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese


  Start off by making the dressing.  In a small mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sugar, and the vinegar.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is creamy smooth.

  Fold in the broccoli, bacon crumbles, cranberries, sunflower kernels, and shredded cheese.  Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.  Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili with Cheddar Hushpuppy Crust

  Today is the first day in a long stretch the heat has not been unbearable.  There was rain for a good part of the morn, and the skies are still gray, even this close to supper-time.  I've loved every minute of today.  I could finally open the windows and take advantage of a nice breeze.  Electric food steamer did a vinegar water steam to combat the area's hard water build-up, and I have a couple of cast iron pieces in the oven getting an overdue cure.  Needless to say, my kitchen doesn't have the most pleasant smell right now.  But to pay homage to my beloved cast iron, I'm going to share a recipe I made a couple of weeks ago, White Chicken Chili with a Cheddar Hushpuppy Crust.  It's a recipe by Gaynell Lawson, from the National Cornbread Festival.  The festival is held once a year in South Pittsburgh, TN - home to Lodge Cast Iron.

White Chicken Chili with Cheddar Hushpuppy Crust

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, divided (I'm fond of yellow onions)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
19 oz cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 (4 oz) can chopped mild green chiles, drained
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (6 oz) package cornbread mix (Gaynell recommends Martha White Buttermilk or Cotton Country)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I use sharp)
Optional for topping - sour cream, salsa, cilantro

  First thing's first.  Preheat your oven to 400°F.

  Take a 10 1/2 inch cast iron skillet, and heat the olive oil in it over medium heat.  Once the oil is heated, add in 1 cup of the onions, the garlic, green pepper, cumin, and chili powder.  Saute until the veggies are tender - plan on 3 to 5 minutes.  Once the vegetables are to your liking, add the lime juice, beans, chicken, broth, and the chiles.  Stir until everything is mixed well.  Remove from the heat while you make the crust.

  To make the crust, start by beating the egg in a medium mixing bowl.  Add in the milk, melted butter, and cornbread mix, and blend well.  At this point, stir in the remaining 1/4 cup of onions and the grated cheese.  Spoon the mixture over the chili in the resting skillet.  Just try to spoon it over the chili evenly as you can, don't worry about spreading it to cover the chili - it'll do that magic in the oven on its own.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until you see the crust is golden brown.  Pull it out of the oven and let it cool 5 minutes before serving.  Scoop it out into bowls and top with your desired goodies - check the optionals on the ingredient list.

Notes:  10 1/2 inch is the size of a standard cast iron skillet.  I personally skipped the extra 1/4 cup of onions in the cornbread.  And a dollop of sour cream is divine in a bowl of this stuff - I didn't need anything else.

For the curious, here are the websites for the National Cornbread Festival and Lodge Cast Iron.

www.nationalcornbread.com
www.lodgemfg.com

Makeovers - the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Well, if you've wandered by here, you've probably noticed a wee change.  A new look for ye olde blog - everything should be reformatted.  At least I hope so, I spent a good, solid day tweaking and fixing HTML tags.  I rather like the new appearance; it's a bit more "me," I reckon. There's the good...now for the bad and ugly.

I'm not the only one that's underwent change recently.  Recipezaar.com has become www.food.com.  It's been a bumpy changeover, but there's a bug where the recipes aren't displaying properly at the moment.  Until I'm sure it is fixed, I'm removing it from my useful links.  I really don't care for the name change - it's bland.  The new look reminds me of Food Network's website - again, not really a fan of it's look, either.  I'm sure I'll use it again when the site is back up and running smoothly, but not nearly as often as I once did.  But over the past year, I've been spending more and more time over at Kittencal's Kitchen anywho, so don't guess I'm missing much.  ;)  *lowers her voice into a Mae West tone* That lady can cook, honey.

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Goodbye, old garlic press.  I will not miss half the cloves mashed inside.  I will not miss picking the detritus out of your holes with a toothpick.  


This is my new friend, the Garlic Twist.  I was introduced to Mr. Twist in early spring in an issue of Food Network magazine.  It was a review of salad gadgets, and it got pretty high marks.  I had a tough time finding them in stores, so I turned to my good faithful buddy, Amazon.  I was pretty surprise when I got it.  It's much bigger than I expected; I was thinking a little guy from the picture in the magazine.  Nope, this guy is a handful.  But that's not a bad thing.   


As you can see, I went with the red model.  American made, they come in translucent blue, red, and clear.  

Fully closed, you can give your garlic clove a good whack to make the skin easy peeling.  Open it up, and place the garlic on either side of the plastic teeth.  Position on your lid, and start twisting.  Admittedly, the first crank or two is the hardest because you are breaking the garlic down from the solid piece.  But once you muscle through the initial twists, you can crank it easily.  Longer you twist, finer the garlic mince. Open it up, and you'll find your garlic in two neat little triangles, ready to be scooped out - which is easy with a fork.  And it's easy to clean.  Did I mention, I really hate picking garlic out of presses?


Company Website: www.garlictwist.com (As of posting, the website is going through reconstruction)
Price: Under $20 USD


Note: If you have a hard time gripping, another company makes a similar product, but instead of the solid hard plastic construction, it has metal blades in place of the plastic teeth.  I've seen them in a kitchen store when I was looking for these.  If they work as well as these, you'll be pleased.