Although our apartment is located North of the Mason-Dixon Line, it's heart is decidedly Southern. So, naturally, we havethe requisite ham, greens , and black eyed peas for dinner on New Year's Day. I received the Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters, and I've decided to try "Lannie's Lord Have Mercy Sweet Potato Pie" for dessert. I'm cutting the recipe in half, since one pie is PLENTY for two people. Fingers crossed for successful pie making! At any rate, I'm also making my Aunt Chris's Spoonbread, which is SO EASY, and it's a nice step up from every day cornbread. Happy New Year!
Aunt Chris's Spoonbread
1 package Jiffy corn bread mix
1- 15 oz can cream corn
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease an 8-inch pan. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring by hand. Pour into pan and bake for 45 minutes.
True story- every time I say "spoonbread", I sing it like this:
This year Brad and I were SO bummed because we thought we were going to so lonely on Christmas. However, yesterday turned out to be a great day! We Skyped with our families, so we got to see our loved ones, and the rest of the day was so relaxing! We didn't have a big hullabaloo, just the two of us enjoying our first Christmas together.I know the holidays are about being with your loved ones and celebrating and all of that, and I love all of the festivities! But I think everyone should scale it back at least once in their life. I'm not saying be alone in a dark room drinking eggnog from the carton! I'm just saying this year, my Christmas was very restorative and I had time to enjoy it.
We had actually planned on roasting a cornish hen, but apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea, and the store was sold out. So we bought a New York Strip and Brad prepared our Christmas dinner from start to finish in about half an hour. It was very simple. Just meat, veg ( I use this term loosely here) and a roll, but it was enough for us after gorging on Christmas treats all day long. The way I'm writing this is the order in which he prepared the whole meal, so there will be a little jumping around.
We just used our favorite heat and serve rolls ( I recommend any of the frozen pilsbury varieties that come in a resealable bag!) and put an 8-inch (oven safe!!!) frying pan in the oven for the durration of the preheat.
Microwave Asparagus Casserole
2 cups frozen peas, thawed* **
12 ounces frozen asparagus, thawed *
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
6 slices of sharp cheddar cheese, cut in half diagonally
1/4 cup sour cream
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp white pepper***
2 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup bread crumbs
Cut the asparagus into two inch strips. Put half of the asparagus and half of the peas in a layer in bottom of the casserole dish. Then put the egg slices in a layer. Next, make a layer out of half of the cheese slices. In a small bowl combine the sour cream, suop, onion powder, and pepper. Put half of this mixture on top of the cheese. Then repeat this process with the remaining ingredients, except the cheese. Combine the butter and the bread crumbs. Sprinkle that mixture on top. Microwave on high for 10 minutes. Top with the remaining cheese slices and cover with foil or the lid of your casserole dish, if you have one. Let it stand for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
While the casserole was in the microwave Brad put the rolls in the oven because the timing on them was the same. He left the pan in the oven while the rolls were baking too. After he removed the rolls, he left the pan in the oven and bumped up the temperature to 500 degrees (NOT BROIL).
Pan Seared New York Strip
New York Strip (about an inch and a half thick)
Kosher or Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Vegetable Oil
(Seriously that's it!)
Take the pan out of the oven and place on the stove over high heat. ***USE AN OVEN MITT!! THE HANDLE IS HOT!!!***
Set the steak on a plate and generously sprinkle both sides with the salt and pepper. Drizzle one side of the steak with the oil then flip the steak on the plate and slide it around a bit, so you can get an even coating. Flip the steak again so you can coat the other side.
Put the steak in the pan and sear for 30 seconds. There will be lots of smoke. Don't be afraid, it's not burning. I promise! Then flip the steak using tongs and sear for 30 seconds again. Then put the whole thing (pan and all) in your 500 degree oven for 2 minutes on each side (flipping in between) for medium rare, 3 minutes on each side for medium or 4 minutes on each side for well.
Let the steak rest on a plate lightly covered with foil for 2 minutes before thinly slicing and serving.
It's a Merry little Christmas dinner! :o)
* Defrosted in the microwave, but you can set them out on the counter early if you like. It just takes a little forethought and a few seconds.
** Brad would like for you all to know that we actually used Laseur brand canned peas, because he thinks frozen peas are too crunchy. I like frozen peas better, but this recipe was still good with the canned ones. *sigh*
*** I think you could get by with regular pepper, although the white pepper was very mild and nice!
Christina here, from Home Says Hello! My darling cousin, Nissa, let me contribute to her fun, musically delicious blog. Initially, I was going to post my pumpkin pie recipe because I've had such success with it in the past few years, but this year, I misplaced my secret recipe and all the photos I took of preparing the pie just so I could post it to Eat to the Beat got deleted.
Well, lucky for my husband and I, we were kind of pied out, so to prepare for this week's seasonal delights, we made a pumpkin cream cheese bread. I found the recipe on joy of baking. The recipe works best with fresh, pureed pumpkin which is quite easy to make.
Pumpkin Puree:
1. cut the top off a pie pumpkin
2. cut the pumpkin in half and gut the pumpkin but save the seeds! You can roast them later.
3. Cut the pumpkin into quarters
4. place your pumpkin quarters on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or just bake until soft.
5. Take the pumpkin out of the oven and you'll notice the skin of the pumpkin is rather shriveled/loose/soft. Peel the skin off (sometimes using a knife helps, but I usually just use my fingers).
6. Once you have the skin off, place the chunks of pumpkin in your food processor or blender, add a little water and blend away! Eventually, you'll start to see your pumpkin turn into a golden, smooth, pumpkin puree!
7. I store my puree in freezer ziplock bags. Anything will do though. It may be easier to go the bag way if, like me, you decide to puree three pie pumpkins and find yourself with 2 gallons of puree. Because of my inability to stop and think about numbers, we've had three pumpkin pies, 24 pumpkin cookies, two pumpkin bread loaves, and still quite a bit of pumpkin puree left.
Ok, now on to the tasty recipe!
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 ounce package (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
Pumpkin Bread:
1 cup (110 grams) pecans or walnuts
3 1/2 cups (450 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 - 15 ounce (425 grams) can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Pumpkin Bread:Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter and lightly flour two - 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pans.
To toast nuts: Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until brown and fragrant. Cool completely and then chop coarsely. **I did not add these. I don't like crunchy things in food that is meant to be soft :)
Cream Cheese Filling: In your food processor, process the cream cheese just until smooth. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. **You can also use a stand mixer, which is what I did, but I think I over processed. Don't worry, if you over process, it just means the filling will seep into the bread, rather than create a thick streak through the center of the loaf. Still tastes good!
Pumpkin Bread:
In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In another large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly beaten. Add the sugar and melted butter and whisk until blended. Whisk or stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and nuts.
Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined. (A few streaks of flour is fine.) Do not over mix as it will make the bread tough.
Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it evenly between the two prepared pans. Divide the cream cheese filling in half and place each half of filling on top the two pans of batter, smoothing the tops. Top with the remaining half of batter (use two spoons to place small dollops of batter on top of the filling). Bake the breads for about 55 - 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. ** Make sure you divide evenly enough. I got caught up in chit chatting with my husband and filled most of my loaf pan with batter, before I realized I put too much in. It still came out good though!
Place pans on a wire rack and let cool for about 10 minutes before removing breads from pans. Can serve warm, cold, or at room temperature. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or else freeze for later use.
Makes 2 loaves.
Ok, get in the kitchen with my girl, Ella, singing one of my favorite Christmas songs and bake your little heart out!
I just added a new section over there on the right hand side! It's called "Yummy!" and it's a list of what I consider to be helpful links. Right now there is one for measurement conversions, and one for ingredient substitutions. I'll add to the list as I go, but I think every kitchen should have access to those first two links!
Happy holidays! :o) I just had to take a quick study break, because it's almost Christmas, and I've only baked one holiday goody! (You know those brownies on the back of the York Peppermint Patty bag? Well, you don't have to do all that. Just make your favorite brownie recipe--I won't tell if it's from a box. Put 1/2 of the batter in the pan, then put a layer of patties leaving a 1 inch border around the edge of the pan. Cover them with the rest of your batter and bake as normal! Yum!) What's the most appropriate baked good for a quick break? Quick bread of course! Don't get me wrong, I love all the peppermint/chocolate and spicy/molasses/brown sugar holiday flavors, but sometimes I need a break. This is a little bit tart, bright and fresh, but still very seasonal! (Am I the only one who finds it ironic that citrus season is in the dead of winter?)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup softened butter (one stick)
2 eggs
1 juicing orange (they don't have as many seeds)
1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F). Put the sugar and butter in a mixing bowl. Use the butter wrapper to grease a 9-inch loaf pan. Cream your butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add your eggs, and incorporate them completely.
I use the same two-cup measuring cup for nearly all the measuring in this recipe. First I zest the orange into the cup. Then I cut the orange in half and use a fork to get all the juice and a good amount of the pulp out. You don't want pith, or chewy skins...you're going for the pulpiest orange juice you've ever seen. Then add the cranberries into the cup until it reaches the 1 1/2 cup mark. (This should take about 1 cup of cranberries. If you don't actually like fresh cranberries, try substituting them with 1/2 a cup of the the dried ones. They have sugar added, and are a little sweeter.) Dump that into the big bowl, add the buttermilk and mix it up on low with the electric mixer.
Then put 1 1/2 cups of flour in the measuring cup, add the baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix that up so the dry ingredients are evenly distributed. (I just use the measuring spoon to stir it.) Put that in the big bowl, then add the other 1/2 cup flour and mix it up with the electric mixer, on low again.
Now that the flour is out, you can dust your buttered loaf pan really quickly before putting the batter in the pan. Smooth the batter out a little, and then bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
When it's done, cool in the pan for 10 minutes before cooling it the rest of the way on the cooling rack. If you slice it too soon, it will crumble, so really be patient, okay? Give it at least 30 minutes.
This is exactly what Christmas Eve is going to be like in my apartment.
I feel like I cheated. That's not really a song, so have this too:
Of course it can never be quite the same, but I think I've come pretty close to recreating my grandmother's miso soup. I love the miso soup they serve at Japanese restaurants, but it's so...delicate. Grandma J's soup is sustaining, maybe even medicinal. I haven't had it in a decade, and I thought I would never have soup like hers again, until last night. Grandma, you trickster! It's SO EASY! It's no wonder she ate it nearly every day for brunch with a big bowl of sticky rice.
1 1/2 tbsp dashi flakes-There are photos of this and the next two ingredients at the end. 12 dried shitake mushroom 1 1/2 tbsp fueru wakame dried seaweed 1 package of firm silken tofu chopped into 1/2-inch cubes 3 tbsp red miso paste
Put about 3 cups of cold water in a big pot add the dashi, and mushrooms. Let it soak in the cold water for about 5 minutes, add the kelp and soak for 10 minutes more. Add some more water to make up for the liquid absorbed and for the added bulk of the tofu. Put on medium heat. 10 minutes in, add tofu. Take 3 ladles worth of broth out of the pot and into a bowl, whisk the miso paste into the separate bowl until it's smooth and uniform. (No lumps of miso.) Add the mixture to the pot. Cook for 10 more minutes. Taste it and add more miso, dashi, or water as you see fit, and heat for a little while longer. You don't want it to boil, you want to warm this gently.
This is a brief description of the song by the composer: "Based on the hauntingly beautiful Sunayama, this composition tells a story of the inner conflict of a Japanese girl who falls in love with an American. She is torn between a life with him in America and her longing for the culture of her childhood. From time to time she plays a music box given to her by her parents (Sunayama theme), bringing a flood of homeland memories." via
