Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

For some reason, I have been in the mood to cook and bake a lot lately. I guess it's the cold weather.....there isn't really anything else to do but hibernate and eat! I got up this morning in the mood for something sweet to eat with my coffee, so I got out several of my cookbooks and found this recipe.

Speaking of Cookbooks, I think I sort of maybe have an addiction to them....I pick them up at yard sales, the flea market, the Goodwill....anywhere I can find them! I could spend hours looking at the pictures and reading the recipes. I was at a yard sale this past summer, and bought 5 really nice hardcover Cookbooks, one of which was Taste of Home 2006 America's Family Recipes. I paid $1 apiece for these cookbooks, and I have really gotten my money's worth. The recipes are all simple, and use ingredients that you are likely to already have on hand.

So I was browsing through the cookbook, and this coffee cake recipe sort of jumped out at me. It looked really decadent, but pretty simple to assemble, and it baked in 30 minutes.....perfect!

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

FILLING:

8 ounces (1 block) cream cheese softened

3 Tablespoons Powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

CINNAMON-NUT TOPPING:

1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Pecans

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Set batter aside.

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Spoon half of the first batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube or bundt pan. Top with the filling and then the remaining batter. Combine all the topping ingredients; sprinkle over batter.

Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

This coffee cake turned out great! It was light and very moist and not overly sweet. I've had some coffee cakes that just had way too much sugar. This one is not like that, the cream cheese filling was actually a little tart which I really liked. If you wanted a sweeter filling, you could always add more sugar.

Oh......and I know I shouldn't, but I let Greta lick the bowl.....c'mon, I'm not the only one am I?

She agreed that it was pretty tasty, LOL........

Is her tongue really that long!?!?!......talk about snapping the picture at just the right second!!

Have a great Saturday!

Cows & Roasted Chickens!

Good afternoon everyone, I am pleased to say that Snowflake continues to improve and get stronger every day.....aside from any unexpected complications, I feel like she will make a full recovery! I hope to get some new pictures tomorrow to post, but in the meantime, I am posting a roasted chicken recipe.

I sort of winged it on the spice rub recipe (pun intended, LOL).....I just made it up and tasted it as I went. This chicken turned out moist and full of flavor!

Oven Roasted BBQ Spiced Chicken

1-  4 to 5 pound roasting chicken

1/2 Stick Butter at room temperature

1/4 cup of paprika (sweet or smoked)

1 TBSP Brown Sugar

1 TBSP White Sugar

1 TBSP Kosher Salt

1 1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (or more or less to taste)

1 tsp Dry Mustard Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Onion Powder

Grated Zest of 1 Whole Lemon

1 Onion, Peeled and Quartered, (Optional)

Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil

Preheat oven to 375*F

First, I discard any pieces in the cavity such as the giblets or neck, and then I wash and pat dry my chicken with paper towels, and place it on a lightly greased roasting pan...........

Mix all spices and Lemon Zest together until thoroughly mixed in small bowl, then mix about 1/3 of that mixture together with the butter in another small bowl........

Next, take your chicken with breast side up, and gently run your fingers under the skin to form a pocket between the flesh and skin, all the way to the legs and both sides of the breasts..................



Then, take the spiced butter and stuff in the pockets that you made and gently squeeze and distribute the seasoned butter all between the skin and the meat, and pull the skin back to it's original position...........

  Then you take the remaining spice mixture and rub it all over the chicken, front and back......

I then take my quartered onion and stuff into the cavity of the chicken and drizzle the chicken all over with the olive oil............. 

Ready for the oven......see you after while gorgeous...... :-D

I roast my chicken on 375* for about 30 minutes, then lower the oven temp to about 300* and cook for approximately 2 to 2 and a half more hours. This time of course depends on the size of your chicken, and your oven, so you may need to adjust your cooking time accordingly.\

So....you end up with this.....so exciting.....

Ummmm.....Errrrr........I meant to just pick a little piece off the leg while I waited for the rest of supper to get done, but as you can see, I got a little carried away............

Have you ever seen such a beautiful hunk of meat in your life?!?!?

If you love chicken...you have to try this recipe......delicious!!!

Yum......Rustic Peach Tart........

I got some of the sweetest, juiciest peaches at Kroger, so I decided to make a peach tart with some of them. It is a free form rustic tart, and it turned out soooooooo good! You can make your own dough or use a store bought pie crust. I made my own, and it was worth the extra work!

INGREDIENTS


Crust (or you can use store-bought premade pastry, enough for a double crust)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4-5 tablespoons ice water


1. Make a mound of flour on a work surface, then make a well in the center of the mound and put the butter, egg yolk, sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the cold water into it.

2. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips, then begin incorporating the flour in until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal. Add 1 tablespoon water and continue to blend, adding water 1/2 tablespoon at a time as needed to form a workable dough, gathering it into a ball.

3. Add a little flour to the work surface and knead the dough two or three times with the heels of your hands. Take care not to over knead. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.


Filling


4 ripe peaches, pitted, halved, and cut into thick slices (I don’t peel them, but you can if you like)

3 tablespoons apricot preserves

2 tablespoons brown sugar


2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons coarse sugar



1. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out chilled dough to make a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place on a baking sheet and coat evenly with preserves to about 1 inch from the edge. Mound peach slices on dough, leaving that 1-inch border of dough around the peaches, then sprinkle peaches with brown sugar.

2. Fold up the dough and crimp the edges together to cup the peaches in a nest. There will still be a lot of peach showing in the center.

3. Brush the exposed crust with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 30 minutes in preheated oven, then allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Here is when I had the peaches on, and started rolling up the edges.....

Here she is.....all tucked in and ready to go in the oven......

And here is the finished tart, all golden brown right out of the oven.....hope you get to make it, enjoy!!!

On a side note.....the only thing I would do different is maybe not use really ripe peaches. Mine were getting a little soft, which caused some extra juice in the tart. Next time I will use ripe but still firm peaches. Still, it turned out very good!

Beef & Broccoli Stir~Fry

I made the best beef and broccoli stir fry for dinner tonight, if you like Chinese food, then you should really try this, it is great.

Beef & Broccoli Stir~Fry

8 oz lean steak trimmed

2 garlic cloves, crushed

dash of chili oil

1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp Chinese Curry powder *see note*

3 tbsp soy sauce, divided

2 tbsp vegetable oil

5 oz fresh broccoli florets

2/3 cup beef stock

2 tsp cornstarch

4 tsp water

Cooked rice

*NOTE*  I didn't have Chinese curry powder, so I made my own

Mix together the following ingredients in a small bowl, use 1/2 tsp for recipe and save the rest for later:

1 tsp chinese five spice powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground mustard

Cut the steak into thin strips and place in a shallow glass dish. Mix together the garlic, chili oil, ginger, Chinese curry powder, and 2 tbsp of soy sauce in a small dish. Pour over the beef, tossing to coat the strips. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wok or skillet, add the broccoli and stir fry over medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the wok and set aside. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in the wok and add the marinated steak along with all the juices. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until the steak is browned. Return the broccoli to the wok and stir in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and the beef stock. Blend the cornstarch with the water to form a smooth paste, and stir it into the beef and vegetables. Bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Cook for one minute, then serve over hot rice.

This was really good, so good in fact, that I burned my tongue and the roof of my mouth, REALLY. BAD.  Because, of course, I couldn't wait for it to cool before I dug in....anyway, after I got over that mishap, and downed a half a glass of sweet tea, I really enjoyed it...... :^)

Wonderful Brunch Recipe....

Today was a lazy kind of day around here, but I finally got up and fixed something to eat, and ended up making a delicious brunch. I made a Bacon and Cheddar Puff Pastry Quiche. It turned out great, and of course, I had to fix fried potatoes with onions and cheddar to go with it....Yum!

                                                   Bacon and Cheddar Puff Pastry Quiche

1 Sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

6 eggs

6 slices bacon

1/4 cup chopped onions

2 cloves minced garlic (optional)

1/2 cup whipping cream OR 1/4 cup plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375*

Place the puff pastry sheet in an 8x8 inch baking pan, covering the bottom and sides. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry to a crisp in a skillet, remove to paper towel to drain. Reserving some of the bacon grease, add onions to skillet and saute for about 8-10 minutes on med-low heat, or until very soft but not browned. Whisk together the eggs, cream or milk and yogurt, salt and pepper. Fold in the garlic, cheese, bacon, and onions. Pour into pastry crust and bake for 30 minutes or  until eggs are set and edges of puff pastry is golden brown. Let rest for 5 minutes, cut and serve with fried potatoes on the side.

Chicken Tacos Recipe

I was craving Mexican today, so I went to the kitchen and came up with a recipe I just created as I went along. I was pleasantly suprised, it was really good, ...

1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1TBSP olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder,
smoked paprika to taste
4 corn tortillas ( or taco shells, whichever you prefer)
shredded cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, guacamole

I start by shredding my chicken in a food processor (or you can buy ground chicken)
but I shred/grind my own, it is much cheaper)
Add chicken, peppers, and onions to preheated skillet coated with oil. Saute while breaking up the chicken to resemble ground beef 2-3 minutes then add all of your spices to your taste. If it is a little dry, you can add more oil or a little water. On a griddle or in a skillet lightly grease the bottom and brown your corn tortillas until golden brown but still flexible. Fill each shell with chicken mixture, fold up ( or use the store bought taco shells) and top with all the condiments you prefer. This recipe makes about 3 or 4 tacos depending on how full you like to stuff them~~Enjoy!