Finds in the Week: Drizzle and Dip

I like to take photos of what I'm cooking or baking, as you can tell in my recipes section.  So when I found 10 tips for food photography on Pinterest, I had to find out more.  Not only did I find some great tips, but a fun, new (at lest for me) website on cooking and baking by Samantha Linsell: Drizzle and Dip.  Yum! to the recipes, and Thank you! for the tips and an inspiring sight for food photography.

Recipe: Cinnamon Biscuits

Cinnamon Biscuits

I love the smell of cinnamon, especially this time of year when the chilly air makes me want to be inside.  My mom made wonderful biscuits and on certain occasions she made these cinnamon biscuits.  They are her take on cinnamon rolls, only flaky in texture and they don't take quite as long to make.  There is no waiting for dough to rise in this recipe.  Cinnamon biscuits are especially tasty right out of the oven on a Sunday morning with a warm mug in hand.  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Biscuits

2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup cream

Butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, to taste, for the middle.  I generally start with 1/4 cup of melted butter and one cup of brown sugar and then sprinkle on cinnamon until it smells just right.  Add more or less as desired for gooey, cinnamon goodness on the inside of the biscuits.

Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl.  Cut in the butter until the mixture is course crumbles.  Make a small depression in the mixture (a "well" in baking terms) and add the cream.  Stir until moistened.  Knead the dough to finish mixing.

Roll out the dough onto a floured surface.  A paper towel helps to ease the clean-up.

Spread melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon across the top of the dough.

Roll up the dough.

Cut the dough and place on a baking pan.  Bake at 475 degrees F for 11 to 15 min.

Recipe: Cowboy Coffe Cake Muffins

My mom used to make this recipe in the form of a true coffee cake on Sunday mornings. I like the muffins just as well, and have always loved the streusel topping the best.

Streusel Topping

In a bowl add:
3 TBL flour
3 TBL brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Stir ingredients together.  Cut in 2 TBL of butter until the mixture looks like crumbs.

Stir in 3 TBL chopped nuts of choice (I used walnuts).

Set aside.

In another bowl combine:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Cut in 1/4 cup butter until mixture looks like crumbs.

Combine 1 beaten egg to 1/2 cup of buttermilk and add to the dry mixture, stirring until the batter is well mixed.  It may still be lumpy.

Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups, but do not overfill. Top with the streusel topping. Bake in the oven at 400° F for 15 minutes or until done. Cool on a baking rack. Serve warm.

Recipe: Bison (or beef) Swiss Steak

This meal is a recent favorite of mine, and is, as always, my version.  Simple to make in a crock pot and satisfying at the end of a long busy day makes this recipe healthy, fast to put together, and very tasty.

2 lbs Bison cubed steak or round steak
1/4 onion, minced
1 zucchini chopped
2 carrots chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 tsp garlic powder
1 pinch of savory
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 Beef Bouillon cube
salt and pepper to taste

• Cut the meat to fit appropriately in your crock pot or roaster.
• Drizzle oil in your cooking vessel.
• Season meat and place in cooking vessel.
• On top of the meat place onion, zucchini, carrot, and celery.
• Pour the can of tomato sauce over all vegetables and meat.
• Add garlic powder, onion powder, and beef bouillon cube; sprinkle savory over the dish.
• Cook for desired time in your crock pot or 45 min to 1 hour at 350 degrees in your oven until meat is done.
• At approximately 15 minutes before serving, place the cabbage on top of the meat and vegetables and place back into the oven or cover in the crock pot.
• Serve hot with rice or desired side.

When I cook I use approximations and like to add a little here and a little there. Please feel free to try your own approximations and additions.

Recipe: Peach Butter

In the fall I enjoy making peach butter.  Much like apple butter, peach butter is simply slowly cooked fruit with sugar and spices.  It's easy to make and a comforting addition to breads and baked goods made throughout the winter months.







Peach Butter Recipe

4 cups peaches
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water

Combine peaches and water and cook until the fruit is soft.  Add sugar; then slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thick and clear.  Add spices of choice.  Suggestions: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.

Sourdough dreams

Over the summer I have been experimenting with sourdough, making my own starter from scratch. A tedious process, but I have a nice starter sitting in my refrigerator grazing on my weekly feeding of flour.

After about 10 days of two daily feedings, keeping the starter at a precise temperature, checking to make sure the temperature was just right, keeping the starter covered, worrying over my success, the list could go on and on, I was finally able to make some tasty sourdough pancakes.

In the middle of one very stormy night, I had a dream that someone dumped out my starter. Not only did I wake up very aggravated, but had to go and check to make sure my starter was still in the refrigerator and still bubbling away. It was, thank goodness.

About the same time I had a request to do a review on a book about dreams. My answer was…Yes! I want to know what my dream about losing my sourdough starter must mean. I’m looking forward to the answer…if there is one.

Meatball Recipe

Getting the suggested amount of vegetables in my diet to have a healthy lifestyle has always been difficult. Mainly because I just don't really care for them. So like a little kid I have to sneak them into my own food. This week I made meatballs to go along with pasta (but forgot to take a picture).

I'm like my grandma and don't write down recipes. I should; but like her, I add something new every time. This time when I made meatballs and marinara sauce (made with vegetable juice) I chopped up fresh spinach and put it into the meat. The recipe went something like this:

1 lb hamburger
two handfuls of fresh spinach chopped up
garlic
onion
salt
pepper
thyme
a handful or two of crushed crackers

Mix everything together, brown in a skillet, once brown add to marinara sauce, bake in the oven at 350 degrees for approximately 45 min until sauce bubbles and meat is cooked through.

They were excellent; and had I not been the one to put the spinach in, I never would have known it was in there!

Banana Bread Recipe

A neighbor lady down the road has been very gracious to me and my family. I often try to find ways to thank her for all she has done. This week my kids and I made her some banana bread; a small payment for a giving heart. Here is the recipe, and maybe you can make it for someone who has been kind to you.

Banana Bread
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup nuts
3 TBS milk
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 good sized bananas mashed

Combine ingredients and bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. to 1 hour. Enough for one regular sized bread pan or 2 small pans.

Recipe: Sausage Bread

Sausage bread is one of my family's favorite meals. The most exciting part, putting in as many creative elements you can think of make this dish different every time you make it. Sausage can easily be substituted out to make a vegetarian meal.

Follow my Pizza Dough recipe for the breading.

Roll your bread dough out on to a baking dish.

In a skillet, cook your desired meat- my preference is breakfast or country sausage.

Add in your desired veggies. I have added spinach and red pepper. Mushrooms are excellent options, along with zucchini and squash, cabbage, carrots...really, whatever you want.

Place your mixture down the middle of your dough.

Add cheese. Again, your preference. I added a medium cheddar, but often add mozzarella, provolone, or pepper jack.

Roll up and fold in the sides, making sure there are no open crevices. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden.

Pizza Dough

My kids love to eat- just not veggies. Honestly, I can't blame them, but we all need more veggies in our diets. I found hiding veggies in pizza not only snuck them into their diet- providing a wonderful and natural vitamins and minerals, but also helped them learn to eat their greens- ummm... me too. Here is an excellent pizza dough recipe- one you can learn by heart and make very quickly. The best part is there are no preservatives! Top with pizza sauce, cheese, meat, and any assortment of veggies you like!

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm milk (or water)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 TBL sugar
1 TBL olive oil
3 cups of flour

Warm milk (or water) and pour over the yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for 3 minutes. Add the sugar and oil. Slowly add the flour. Allow the dough to rise for approximately 30 minutes. Roll dough out onto desired baking pan and top with ingredients. Bake until pizza is golden in a 375 degree oven. Makes one crust.

Russian Tea Recipe

Nothing says Christmas like the smell of cinnamon and cloves. Drinking a cup of Russian Tea on a cold and blustery day, takes away the chill from being outside or the blues away from being inside. Plus the smell of the tea can only bring good memories and warm thoughts. A great alternative to coffee or hot chocolate, keep this sweet tea in mind when the snow has fallen and sledding with the kids is on the schedule for the weekend. They'll like having this tea along, and so will you!

Russian Tea
2 cups Tang or orange drink mix (most of these contain vitamin C adding another good reason to drink up!)
3/4 cup Instant tea
1/3 cup Lemonade drink mix
1 cup sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
Mix all ingredients together and store in a glass jar. Use approximately two heaping teaspoons per serving (one mug).

• Keeping a jar on hand at your house is great for a quick drink to serve to your guests.
• Fill smaller jars, tie pretty ribbon around them and give them as gifts to people who stop by or to friends and family.
• Let your kids have fun by mixing the ingredients themselves!