scraploot upload

Hi all , hope you are having a fab weekend. Its the first of the month and that means upload time for the design team over at scraploot. This months theme was Love of course. I was given some beautiful Carolees creations and Deja view papers to play with, although not my usual colours i'm happy with the results. One I cant share here as i'm giving it as a gift. The first one of David and Larsen this was not a posed photo i just happened to look up with the camera and snapped this beautiful shot. The second one of my mum with Larsen, she just adores him. The last one is a wedding keepsake box which could be used to hold all types of your wedding momentos in.

Go on over to scraploot. to check out the other girls layouts they are stunning as usual.

Larsen turns 2 months tomorrow (where has those two months gone ?) so ill be back with some photos and more layouts to share then, take care and enjoy your Sunday.

The Ultimate Onion Rings *Recipe #14 page 145*

One word ...... awesome! These are truly the best onion rings ever! The batter is light and crunchy and the onions melt in your mouth! One of my favorite recipes in the book so far.

This recipe serves 2-4 people easily. Begin by slicing 2 large onions, 1/2 " thick. Lightly coat them in 1 cup of a/p flour that is seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the batter: In a large bowl combine 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 2 tablespoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add 1 egg yolk. Gradually whisk in 3/4 cup club soda, chilled. Work your way out from the center of the bowl to form a smooth batter. (I had a really thick batter and had to add about 1/2 cup more club soda).

Pour 2-3 inches vegetable oil into a large heavy pot and heat to 375. Dip the flour-coated onion rings into the batter and shake off excess. Fry in batches until golden about 3-4 minutes.

**Slice some garlic cloves into thin slivers and coat with batter and fry for about 1 minute. Drop some fresh parsley (not battered) into the oil for 15 seconds and garnish the onion rings with fried garlic and fried parsley.

Note: I fried extra onion rings after frying the garlic and parsley and the flavor was ten times better.

These were great on their own, but would also be good with some of those special dipping sauces.

Salt-Crusted Porterhouse *Recipe #13 Page 57*

Be

This was a really good recipe for steak and it has a great presentation! It was tender and flavorful and much quicker (for the immense size) than grilling. The crust was very easy to make and I think these steaks would be great for entertaining. After you apply the salt crust and pop them in the oven you are free to do whatever. The oven does all the work for you. However, I would check the steaks after 15 minutes (or less depending on the size). I was trying to achieve a very pink medium and I ended up getting medium to well-done. Next time, I will start checking the temperature of the steak with my meat thermometer after maybe 10 minutes. We ate these particular steaks alongside Tyler's Ultimate Onion Rings. It was a restaurant-worthy meal. I am grateful for that because the steaks alone were $40. I suppose I should learn a lesson in sending a man to the store to buy steak. Why wouldn't he come back with the largest steak in the store?

RECIPE

2 - 18 oz. Porterhouse Steaks (1-1/2 " thick) *mine were about 20 oz. and 30 ozs.

extra virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

6 egg whites

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

2 bay leaves

3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves only

4 sprigs fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

3 sprigs fresh sage, leaves only

4 sprigs thyme, leaves only

3 cups kosher salt * I found I needed more to make a thicker paste*

Allow steaks to stand at room temp for about 20 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper. Preheat oven to 475. in a large bowl whisk egg whites until slightly foamy. In a food processor (or by hand if you are me) combine garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, parsley, sage, and thyme and pulse until finely chopped. Add herb mixture and salt to egg whites and mix well until it holds together like paste.

Place steaks in center of large cast-iron skillet or roasting dish and mound salt paste on top and around the sides of steaks. Roast about 15 minutes for med-rare (I would check temp around 10 mins.). Your thermometer should say 125 when inserted for medium rare. remove from oven and let stand for 7-8 minutes before cracking salt shell. Slice and serve.

Caramelized Onion and Roasted Rosemary Focaccia *Recipe 11 Page 212*

I'm lucky enough that I still have the same best friends since early elementary school. What does that have to do with caramelized onion focaccia? Well, when we were about 8 years old we would lay out on the front porch and eat cheese and crackers all afternoon while talking and sunbathing. Goodness knows that having a tan at 8 years old is very important! Well, one of my friends just wasn't into cheese with plain crackers. She is going to laugh when she reads this. She was always very creative and into different combinations. One day she decided that she was going to have onion crackers with peanut butter. She was a lover of onions at a young age and continues to be now. Well, nowadays there is no such thing as sunbathing for us four girls. We have 7 children between all of us, and another one on the way. Sunbathing is a distant memory. However, bread with onions and cheese......well that might be the perfect combination.

This was a very easy dough to make:

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (heated to 110-115)

2 tablespoons sugar

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine yeast with warm water and sugar in a kitchen stand mixer bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes to dissolve and activate. Using the dough hook attachment, mix the yeast mixture on low speed while adding flour and salt. Once incorporated, knead dough on low speed for 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold over it self a couple of times. Form into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a towel and set in a warm place for 1 hour until dough has doubled in volume.

While the dough was in the oven rising I sliced 2 large onions and caramelized them in a pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper for about 20-25 minutes. I took the leaves off of about 4 springs of rosemary and grated 1/4 Parmigiano-Reggiano. When the dough was ready I was sure to find my 7 year old daughter. Forget about sunbathing and eathing cheese and crackers. This girl has some aggression. She likes to punch dough. And I mean PUNCH with capitol letters. Grease a baking sheet and spread it out on the baking sheet, dough should be 1/2 thick and let sit covered for another 15 minutes. After resting for 15 minutes uncover and press down on it with your fingers to create several small dimples. Drizzle with olive oil and cover with onions, rosemary, and Parmigiano. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 17-20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.

This would be a good dough for pizza type toppings. Naturally, my husband thinks it would be better with meat. I made the recipe primarily to use on one of my next recipes, which is Tyler's Rosemary-Garlic Mozzarella Balls with Roasted Tomato Dipping Sauce. It calls for 3 cups of cubed focaccia.

Happy Weekend!

Almost-Famous Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels

Ok, so I'll admit it......I just discovered baking with yeast last week and now it is my new obsession!! I found a recipe for Auntie Anne's soft pretzels in my current Food Network Magazine. It looked easy enough and we have been trapped inside all week, so why not try it?

Well, they are exactly like the real thing. My daughter said they were great (she ate two) and my husband agrees they taste exactly like Auntie Anne's. We are going to be making these a lot. Tonight we tried the original salt pretzel, a pretzel dog, and a jalapeno and cheese pretzel.

The recipe makes 6 pretzels. So if you or your family members are addicted to eating these pretzels when you are at the mall, here you go....

ALMOST-FAMOUS SOFT PRETZELS:

1 cup milk - I used 2%

1 pacakage active dry yeast

3 tablespons packed light brown sugar

2-1/4 cups a/p flour, plus more for kneading

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing

1 teaspoon fine salt (I used regular tablesalt)

1/3 cup baking soda

2 tablespoons coarse salt (I used kosher salt)

FOR THE SAUCE: - MIX TOGETHER-
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup dijon mustard
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

To make the pretzels: warm the milk in a saucepan until it's about 110 (I use a candy thermometer); pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. lLet the yeast soften about 2 minutes; stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 tablespoons butter and soften; stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 -1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead (with hands), adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot (oven) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a floured surface. I recommend letting the dough rest (covered for at least 30 mins). Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hands into a 30-inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form each rope into a pretzel shape.

Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. (This got a little messy- I used my hands and sprinkled the soda solution on both sides of the pretzel) Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Prepare the sauce and refrigerate.

Melt the remaining 8 tablespoons butter in a shallow dish. Dip the hot pretzels in the butter, turning to coat; place on a wire rack to let excess butter drip off. Serve the pretzels warm with the sweet mustard sauce.

You really have to try these pretzels. You can even make pretzel bites and your own cheese or pizza sauces. Have fun experimenting!!

Perfect Roast Chicken & Brussel Sprouts Salad *Recipes 9 &10*

This was by far the VERY BEST Roasted Chicken I have ever ate!! The skin was crispy and golden brown with flecks of parsley running through. The chicken cut like a dream and was very moist, tender and buttery....You could cut the chicken breast with a fork!! It was just simply juicy and delicious!! I highly recommend that everyone tries this Roasted Chicken (page 67) recipe at least once. To accompany the roasted chicken I decided to make Tyler's Brussel Sprouts Salad with Pancetta and Cranberries (page 230). This complimented the chicken perfectly.

Here is the recipe for the Roasted Chicken:

Perfect Roast Chicken:
1 - 4-5 lb. whole free-range chicken
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon, halved
1 garlic bulb, halved through the equator
1 sprig fresh rosemary
4 springs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh sage
1/2 bunch fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature
2 cups button mushrooms
Preheat oven to 400. Rinse the chicken with cool water, inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Season the cavity with salt and pepper; then stuff with lemon, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and sage. In a food processor combine the parsley and butter and process until well combined. Season the butter with salt and pepper (I was generous with this).
Place the chicken, breast side up, in a roasting pan. Tie the legs of the chicken together with kitchen twine. Rub the herb butter over the chicken. Put the mushrooms in the bottom of the pan; roast chicken and mushrooms for 1 hour 45 minutes, until the drumsticks move easily in the sockets and the juices run clear (180 in the thickest part) Baste every 30 minutes. Remove chicken to a platter, tent with foil, and let stand for 10 minutes before carving.

I followed the directions exactly and was so pleased with the results. At first I was irritated with Tyler for the amount of butter I was rubbing on that chicken. It certainly seems like way too much. But, I understand it now. The butter helps with the color, the crispness and the tenderness of the chicken. I bought the whole free-range and organic chicken, even though it was $10.50 and I think it was well worth it. The chicken just looked a lot better when I took it out of the wrapping. I am so pleased with this recipe that it is the only way I will ever cook a chicken again.

The Brussel sprout salad will hit just about every taste bud you have. It is sweet (dried cranberries), salty, bitter, savory...You begin with 6 ouces of pancetta and a little olive oil in a saute pan and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then you add 2 lbs. of Brussel sprouts that are separated into leaves. You then add 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 3 tablespoons shallots, 1 garlic clove minced and toss to combine. Immediately add the 2 tbsps. of balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup chicken broth and cook 3-4 mins. until the brussel sprout leaves have wilted. Season and serve warm. The picture in Tyler's book looks great and bright. When I added my balsamic vinegar it darkened up the final dish quite a bit. It wasn't as pretty as his was, but it tasted really good.

I'm thankful to be inside and have power tonight. We are very lucky!! Kentucky is hitting a record low with the amount of people in the state that are without power. This is one of the worst storms we have had.

Ice Ice Baby......and then snow, lots of snow

Well, you couldn't go anywhere in Kentucky today, even if you wanted to. Almost everything is closed. Schools, Business, doctor's offices, salons.....even Bob Evans opened up late today. I even saw that one of the malls would be closed. Many cities in Kentucky have been declared a state of emergency. There are over 100,000 people without power, including my mother and father-in-law. The roads are so bad that they can't even make it over to our house. Lot so people are stuck inside their house with no electricity or heat and no way to get out. Last time this happened there were people w/out power for 8 days. We live in a new subdivision and our powerlines are underground so we should be okay.

The trees in my backyard are covered with ice, not snow. We have been listening to the sounds of limbs and trees falling since last night. Now it is snowing......realling snowing. It is coming down like a blizzard. The news says there is only 1/4 mile visilibity. I don't even think there is that. I can't even see the field in my backyard. This kind of weather hardly ever happens here and we just aren't equipped to deal with it. I am hoping that my husband can make it home tomorrow. He has been working in Atlanta for the past two weeks.

Well, the kids are out of school and have been all week. It doesn't look like tomorrow looks good either. I think today we will stay in and make Tyler's Perfect Roast Chicken and maybe even his Brussel Sprouts Salad. Of course, this all depends on how the kids fare after being locked inside for four days......

Good luck to everyone who is dealing with this storm. It is a very bad and widespread storm.....I hope everyone stays safe and warm.