Maple Pecan Pie

Hello peeps...I am in dessert mode again...Here is something a little different called Maple Pecan Pie. This is made with Jamaican Rum...Check it out..

INGREDIENTS:

Pastry Dough:

• 1 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt
• 4 tablespoon(s) cold butter or margarine, cut into pieces
• 3 tablespoon(s) vegetable shortening
• 3 tablespoon(s) (or more if needed) ice water

Maple-Pecan Filling:

• 1/2 cup(s) (packed) brown sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) maple syrup
• 1/4 cup(s) dark corn syrup
• 3 tablespoon(s) butter or margarine, melted
• 1 tablespoon(s) dark Jamaican rum
• 1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup(s) pecans, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare Pastry Dough: In large bowl, combine flour and salt. With pastry blender or using two knives scissors-fashion, cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with fork after each addition, until dough is just moist enough to hold together. Shape dough into disk; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight. (If chilled overnight, let stand 15 minutes at room temperature before rolling.)
3. On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll dough into 12-inch round. Ease dough into 9-inch glass or ceramic pie plate, gently pressing dough against side and bottom of plate. Trim dough edge, leaving 1-inch overhang. Fold overhang under; pinch to form decorative edge. Refrigerate pie shell until firm, about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line pie shell with foil and fill with pie weights, dry beans, or uncooked rice. Bake pie shell 15 to 20 minutes or until set. Remove foil and weights and bake 5 to 6 minutes longer, or until shell is golden. If shell puffs up during baking, gently press it down with back of spoon. Reset oven control to 350 degrees F.
5. While pie shell is baking, prepare Maple-Pecan Filling: In large bowl, whisk brown sugar, syrups, butter, rum, vanilla, and eggs until blended. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into hot pie shell. Bake 35 minutes or until filling is puffed and set at edges but still jiggles slightly in center. Cover rim of pie with foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool completely on wire rack.
6. Variation: For Chocolate Mixed-Nut Pie, prepare Maple-Pecan Filling as above, but melt 2 ounces chopped unsweetened chocolate with butter. Coarsely chop 3/4 cup pecans, 1/2 cup walnuts, and 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, substituting them for all the pecans.
   
   Each serving of Chocolate Mixed-Nut Pie: About 440 calories, 29 g total fat (10 g saturated), 87 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 44 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 6 g protein.

Have with a nice hot cup of coffee...

Enjoy!  Eat Well My Friends!

Mashed Potatoes With Butternut Squash

Happy After Thanksgiving Day...Sorry I don't have a better photo...but I have to share this mashed potato dish I got from my friends at Food & Wine with you...

To prepare ultra fluffy potatoes, Author Grace Parisi presses them through a ricer. To achieve a similar texture, pass the potatoes through a food mill or a fine-mesh sieve. If you choose to mash them by hand, be gentle; otherwise, the potatoes will turn gluey and you don't want that.

INGREDIENTS:

• (3-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1 1/2 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• 3 pound(s) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 4 clove(s) garlic
• 1 cup(s) half-and-half
• 1 1/2 stick(s) unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, toss the squash with the oil and season with salt. Spread the squash on a nonstick baking sheet and roast, turning once, for about 25 minutes, until tender and lightly browned in spots. Transfer the squash to a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot, cover the potatoes and garlic with cold water and bring to a boil. Simmer over moderate heat until tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Drain the potatoes and garlic in a colander, shaking out the excess water. Add the half-and-half and butter to the pot and heat until melted. Remove from the heat. Press the potatoes and garlic through a ricer into the pot and season with salt. Stir in the butternut squash puree and cook over moderate heat until very hot. Transfer the mashed potatoes to a bowl and serve right away.

Serves: 12 people

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Total Time: 50 min

Cook Time: 25 min

Oven Temp: 400

Enjoy!  Eat Well My Friends

Bourbon Glazed Turkey

With Thanksgiving Just days away....You guys had to know that I was going to write something on this blog,didn't you?

Considering I don't receive a dime for any of this...I'd say I'm pretty consistant with my blogs...And to think...I contemplated giving it all up at one point...

Well, thanks to my friends at Food and Wine...I have come up with this wondeful recipe for that yard bird as one of my relatives used to call the turkey...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (15 pounds) turkey, heart, gizzard and liver chopped and reserved
• 2 cup(s) apple cider
• 1 1/2 cup(s) kosher salt
• 2 cup(s) dark brown sugar
• 3 sprig(s) rosemary
• 1 bunch(es) thyme
• 1 bunch(es) sage
• 3 pound(s) ice cubes
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, thinly sliced
• 10 clove(s) garlic
• 1 stick(s) (plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup(s) bourbon
• 2 tablespoon(s) canola oil
• 12 ounce(s) (1 bag) pearl onions, thawed if frozen
• 3 cup(s) turkey stock or low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoon(s) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup(s) Mashed Roasted Garlic

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put turkey in a brining bag set in a tub or very large pot. In a large saucepan, combine cider with salt, 1 cup of brown sugar, rosemary, thyme, and sage, and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve salt and sugar. Add 6 quarts of cold water to brine and pour over turkey. Add ice to brine and refrigerate turkey overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and set a rack on lowest shelf of oven. Drain turkey and pat dry. Discard brine. Fill turkey cavity with half of onion, celery, carrot, and garlic cloves; scatter remaining vegetables in a large roasting pan. Set a V-shaped rack in pan. Tie turkey legs with butcher's twine and transfer bird to rack, breast side up. Add 2 cups of water to pan and roast turkey for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine remaining 1 cup of brown sugar with 1 stick of butter and bourbon and heat just until sugar and butter melt.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and brush turkey with some glaze. Continue roasting turkey, brushing it every 15 minutes, for about 3 hours, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thigh registers 165 degrees F; add another 2 cups of water and tent turkey with foil halfway through roasting. Transfer turkey to a carving board and let rest for 30 minutes.
5. Strain pan juices into a heatproof bowl and skim off fat. (You should have about 1 cup.) Discard vegetables.
6. In a large saucepan, heat oil. Add chopped turkey giblets and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add pearl onions and cook until lightly browned in spots, about 5 minutes longer. Add turkey stock and reserved turkey pan juices and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of saucepan.
7. In a small bowl, mash remaining 2 tablespoons of butter with flour and whisk it into gravy. Bring to a boil and simmer until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes. Whisk in roasted garlic. Carve turkey and serve with the gravy.

Enjoy! Eat Well My Friends!

The Tao of Coffee

Because I love a good cup of coffee in the morning ,I thought I would share this with you ...taken from an internet article I read today-

Coffee is good for you, a new study says. Wait, no, coffee is actually not that good for you, a newer study says. It seems like research on coffee keeps contradicting itself: It is simultaneously the cause of and the cure to everything.
So what’s the truth? We asked nutritionists to weigh in on the science of java.
There’s so much conflicting evidence out there about coffee’s health benefits because, first of all, nutrition science is a relatively young field, says registered dietitian Susan Mitchell. And coffee is a pretty complex beverage, so it’s true that there are both positive and negative health effects to drinking it.
“It’s interesting – so, if you look at how people think about it, it’s as a vehicle of caffeine,” says Rob van Dam, epidemiologist at Harvard University and the National University of Singapore. “So people would talk interchangeably about coffee and caffeine.” But coffee also contains a lot of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and flavonoids, he says. “Things we typically see in fruits and vegetables we see in coffee – which is not that surprising considering coffee (comes from) a plant,” van Dam says.
The bad news-
Unfiltered coffee is not great for you.
That means Turkish coffee or coffee made with a French press.
“We know that if you have unfiltered coffee, that there is a substance called cafestol that increases your cholesterol level,” van Dam says. “So if you drink it throughout the day, it can increase your risk of heart disease.” But if you use a filter, or drink instant coffee – or if you only drink French press coffee or Turkish coffee every once in a while – you’re OK, he says. “But if you drink it every day in huge amounts, it may have an effect on your cholesterol levels.”
The caffeine in coffee may be harmful during pregnancy.“We have concerns that high caffeine intake may be detrimental to the fetus,” van Dam says. “Because the fetus can’t metabolize caffeine very well – they don’t have the ability to make it dissolve from the blood stream.” And that can mean the fetus is taking in less nutrition.

“So, for women who are pregnant, although the evidence is not conclusive, we do suggest limiting coffee consumption at this stage of life,” van Dam says.
Lots of cream and sugar in your coffee is not doing your health any good.“The coffee-shop kind of coffees are high in calories because they’re large beverages and they have lots of cream and sugar. It seems obvious, but it’s something to consider,” van Dam says.
The good news-

Coffee has been shown to lessen the risk of some of the country’s most common illnesses. Moderate coffee consumption – one to three cups a day – have been associated with a lower risk for heart attacks, especially in women. Some studies have shown a lower risk for cancers like endometrial, prostate and some breast cancers. And coffee has also been linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.
It’s also been shown to lower your risk of diabetes.“Most of our research has been on diabetes – there are 35 studies now on coffee and diabetes,” van Dam says. “These have been quite consistent – people drinking more coffee have a lower risk of diabetes. It is remarkably consistent. It’s hard to imagine another factor that coffee drinkers have that would be so effective.”

And it may help reduce the risk for developing depression. Women who drank two or three cups of coffee a day were 15 percent less likely to develop depression when compared to women who drank just one cup a day, one study found. 

The answer is, as the answer often is: You be you. If you don't like coffee, the evidence of its benefits isn't strong enough for nutrition scientists to recommend that you start drinking it. If you do, the evidence of its harms isn't strong enough for them to recommend that you stop.
“If you like coffee and you don’t have a specific health condition – you can just kind of enjoy your coffee, regularly, as you like it,” van Dam says. “It’s fine to drink three, four, five cups of coffee a day, at least based on what we have found on the research available.”

So what's the final verdict??  Who knows... I'm going to have a cup of coffee.

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork

Yesterday I talked about Beef Brisket....Another Great Football watching sandwich is slow cooked pulled pork.

This meltingly tender shredded pork on this sandwich has been slow-cooked for hours in a sweet and tangy sauce.

INGREDIENTS:
1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 cup(s) ketchup

1/3 cup(s) cider vinegar

1/4 cup(s) packed brown sugar

1/4 cup(s) tomato paste

2 tablespoon(s) sweet paprika

2 tablespoon(s) Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoon(s) yellow mustard

1 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt

1 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper

4 pound(s) boneless pork shoulder blade roast (fresh pork butt), cut into 4 pieces

12 soft sandwich buns or ciabatta rolls, warmed

Dill pickles (optional)

Potato chips (optional)

Hot sauce (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In 4 1/2- to 6-quart slow-cooker pot, stir onion, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato paste, paprika, Worcestershire, mustard, salt, and pepper until combined. Add pork to sauce mixture and turn to coat well with sauce.
2. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook pork mixture on low setting as manufacturer directs, 8 to 10 hours or until pork is very tender.
3. With tongs, transfer pork to large bowl. Turn setting on slow cooker to high; cover and heat sauce to boiling to thicken and reduce slightly.
4. While sauce boils, with 2 forks, pull pork into shreds. Return shredded pork to slow cooker and toss with sauce to combine. Cover slow cooker and heat through on high setting if necessary.
5. Spoon pork mixture onto bottom of sandwich buns; replace tops of buns. Serve sandwiches with pickles, potato chips, and hot sauce if you like

Once again...enjoy with your favorite brew and maybe some cole slaw...

Enjoy!  Eat well my friends!

Barbecue Beef Brisket sandwich

Nothing like a Barbecue Beef Brisket sandwich, some chips and a cold beer or soda....It's been so long since I had one...

Hours of the slow cooker's moist heat renders your meat fork-tender. Here, slices of beef brisket steeped in a sweet-and-savory sauce create a world-class sandwich.

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 (pound ) brisket, trimmed
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) coarse sea salt
• 3/4 teaspoon(s) pepper
• 1 tablespoon(s) vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoon(s) garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup(s) dark beer, (such as porter or stout)
• 1 tablespoon(s) Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
• 3 tablespoon(s) honey
• 1/2 cup(s) ketchup
• 1 teaspoon(s) paprika
• 8 kaiser (or other sandwich) rolls

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook the brisket: Season the brisket with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the brisket, brown on all sides, and transfer to a slow cooker.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir well. Slow-cook, covered, until the meat is very tender -- 8 hours. Remove the meat, place it on a cutting board, and let it rest for 15 minutes. Reserve the sauce.
3. Carve brisket into thin slices and divide it among kaiser rolls topped with reserved sauce. Serve warm.

Serve with Potato Chips and dip and a cold Beer!

Arizona Corn Pancakes

Arizona Corn Pancakes!  It's Saturday Morning as I write this and I'm in full breakfast mode.....
Humor me...


Pancakes are most often a sweet breakfast dish, but there's no reason you can't put a savory twist on the traditional morning treat.

In the Southwest, corn is a ubiquitous ingredient, and the slightly sweet, starchy vegetable works beautifully in a creative version of the beloved breakfast food.

The Lodge at Sedona, a quaint bed and breakfast, serves a massive meal every morning from 8:00-9:30am, and much of the menu features ingredients native to the region.

The Lodge's blue corn pancakes are just one way the staff takes the cuisine from ordinary to unexpected. The Mission, a restaurant serving up modern takes on classic Latin dishes in Scottsdale, uses the more common yellow corn for the savory pancake on its brunch menu, but tops it with sweet dungeness crabmeat, cilantro, and a smoky crema.
The Lodge at Sedona, 125 Kallof Place, Sedona; 

Of course now...I'm not anywhere near Arizona...and I'm guessing most of you aren't either...Soooo, how would I prepare this for myself at home?

Glad you asked....

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups blue corn flour
• 3/4 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons baking powder
• 4 cups milk
• 1/2 pound butter, melted
• 4 eggs

DIRECTIONS:


Mix dry ingredients - flours, salt, sugar, and baking powder.

Mix wet ingredients - milk, butter and eggs.

Combine and mix but do not over mix, batter should be slightly lumpy.

Let rest for 1/2 hour before adding to frying pan.

Total Time:1 hr 20 min

Prep-20 min

Inactive-30 min

Cook-30 min

Yield:4 to 6 servings

 

Hope this was some help to you all...

 

Enjoy!  Eat well my friends!

Banana BlueBerry Buttermilk Bread

I'm always looking for whatever is new and different in the world of food and this afternoon while searching for a unique recipe I found this one...It's at least unique to me...

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup(s) nonfat or low-fat buttermilk
• 3/4 cup(s) packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup(s) canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup(s) mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
• 1 1/4 cup(s) whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cup(s) blueberries, fresh or frozen

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk buttermilk, brown sugar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in mashed bananas.
3. Whisk whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
5. Bake until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Let cool for about 2 hours before slicing.
   
   Muffin Variation: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat 12 (1/2 cup) muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners. Divide the batter among the muffin cups (they will be full). Bake until the tops are golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes more before serving.
   
   Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 carbohydrate (other), 1 fat. Carbohydrate Servings: 3.

Don't sweat the Tips & Techniques -

Ingredient note: Whole-wheat pastry flour, lower in protein than regular whole-wheat flour, has less gluten-forming potential, making it a better choice for tender baked goods. You can find it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets and natural-foods stores. Store in the freezer.

Enjoy!  Eat well my friends!