Cast Iron Blueberry Cobbler

Ever since my childhood pastor, Art, gave us a cast iron skillet for our wedding I've been finding all kinds of recipes that specifically tell you to use one. You can use it on the stove top or oven, so it's definitely a nice pan to have in your cabinet. My favorite cookbook currently is One Pan, Two Plates that uses a cast iron skillet in every recipe!

Here's Jake and my current favorite dessert using our old faithful skillet.

Cast Iron Blueberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon minced dried lavender 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk

• 1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 scraped vanilla bean
• 2 cups blueberries
• Vanilla Bean ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving, optional

Note: I couldn't find it in time, so I did not use the dried lavender. I also substituted 1 tsp of vanilla extract for the vanilla bean and it worked fine.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the butter in an 8-inch cast-iron skillet and transfer to the preheated oven to melt.

Meanwhile, mix together the flour, baking powder, lavender and salt in a bowl. Stir in the milk, 1 cup sugar, the lemon juice, zest and vanilla to combine. Mix together the remaining tablespoon sugar and the blueberries in another bowl. Remove the hot skillet with the melted butter from the oven and pour in the batter. Top with the sugared blueberries. Bake until brown and the batter has risen up and around the fruit, about 30 minutes.

Transfer to a rack to cool slightly. Serve with vanilla bean ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream. 

Enjoy! :)

Kale Chips

I'm the sponsor of my school's Garden Club and I'm starting to learn quite a bit about gardening and what you can make with the more unusual veggies that we grow. My newest garden discovery is kale. Some students had made "Kale Chips," which they said were really tasty. I was a tad bit skeptical, but I gave it a try. They really are good! They're quite crunchy, so it gives me the same type of taste as chips, but a ton healthier. Here's the recipe I used.

 

Kale Chips

Ingredients: 

1 bunch kale

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Homemade Pesto

I have been growing basil in my garden for a while now in preparation to make this:

Then, this happened:

 

Some cute little furry animal decimated my basil crop. I mean, not even one little plant left. To say I was upset by this would be an understatement. All my pesto dreams are now in a bunny's belly. But! Luckily my friends Matt and Kourtney shared their basil crop with me and I finally got to make my pesto. Here's the recipe I used. I didn't have any pine nuts in my kitchen, so I found this recipe that doesn't call for them.

Basil Pesto

3 cups fresh basil leaves

2-3 cloves garlic

About 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Splash of fresh lemon juice

About 1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a food processor or blender, chop up the garlic until it is minced.

2. Add in the basil and cheese and start to blend. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while the machine is running. Blend until smooth.

3. Squeeze in a little lemon juice and add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Taste the sauce and adjust to your likings.

5. Put in a freezer container and freeze if you wish or use it right away.

Alioli Corn

Remember this corn I was raving about while we were in Boston?

From this restaurant?

Well my super detective sister, Kels, found the recipe! Believe it or not, it's not difficult at all. You probably have all of the ingredients in your house right now.

Alioli Corn

You will need:
4 ears corn, husked
8 Tbsp. mayonnaise
1 cup cotija or parmesan cheese, grated fine or crumbled
1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
2 limes, cut into wedges
 
Prepare hot grill or grill pan. Grill corn, rolling until golden brown, about 10 minutes (you can also boil the corn if you prefer).



Remove corn from grill and brush on mayo. Roll in cheese and dust with cayenne.



Serve with lime wedges.

We served this at Dad's birthday party this past weekend and it tasted great! We boiled the corn. Kels also combined all ingridients and spread it on the corn instead of putting the mayo on first. We also added some extra lime juice to our corn and thought it tasted more like Toro's version that way.

Enjoy! We will probably have this again sometime this week. :)

Banana Ice Cream

Wish me luck! I'm about to make these puppies into banana ice cream. I've never made it before, but this is a way healthier alternative to the regular kind. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

(See below for recipe)

 

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients:
Frozen Bananas (approx 1 cup)
Coconut Milk (approx 1/2 cup)
Cinnamon & Nutmeg to taste

Directions:
Place above ingredients in a blender and blend until well combined. If ice cream is too thick add a little more coconut milk.

Update:
 It worked! And it was delicious. My advice would be to peel the banana before you put it into the freezer. It was not pretty trying to get the peel off while it was frozen.

Chili Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Hi strangers! Last week was crazy busy in our neck of the woods, thus my blog posting was a little spotty. But, I'm back, and with a really yummy recipe. Lately, Jake and I are trying to be more conscious and proactive about what we eat. Switching out candy for fruit, that kind of thing. Sometimes you just want something crunchy and salty, so this is a great alternative to chips. I found this recipe from one of my very favorite blogs, Today's Letters.

Chili Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
2 Cups Pumpkin Seeds
4 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs Chili Powder
2 tsp Sea Salt

Directions:
1. Put pumpkin seeds into a large cast iron skillet over medium heat.
2. Stir frequently over 4-5 minutes (the seeds will crack and pop, kind of like Pop Rocks but healthier).
3. Remove from heat and stir in olive oil, chili powder and sea salt.
4. Let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies

For months before my wedding, I looked forward to one thing...

But alas, we came back after our first dance to find NO PUMPKIN COOKIES left. This was the saddest part of my wedding day.

Luckily, our friend, Annette, heard about our cookie dilemma and whipped us up a batch of her very own pumpkin cookies. I'd like to think they were even better than the ones at our wedding. :)

Annette's Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla

Sift: 2 Cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add in egg, pumpkin, and vanilla. Then, add in sifted dry ingredients.

Drop by large teaspoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until set.

For icing:

Mix together 4 tsp melted, cooled butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup heavy cream, and 2 cups confectioners sugar. Frost cookies once cool.

Enjoy!

Dutch Oven Bread Success!

Last week I talked about one of my goals of making Dutch Oven Bread. I had Monday off for MLK Jr. Day, so I finally had the time to attempt the recipe. This bread takes a lot of time, but it's mostly just waiting for the dough to rise. I was super happy with how it turned out, and Jake and I had it for dinner last night and tonight. Success! I plan on making this again soon.

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Treats!

I've been craving these for a while now and finally made them yesterday. They're made the same way as rice krispie treats, but with fruity pebbles. You won't be sorry you made them!

Ingredients: 3 Tbsp butter, one bag of marshmallows, 6 cups fruity pebbles

Melt butter and marshmallows on stove over medium heat. When melted, combine with fruity pebbles. Press into a greased pan and let cool.

Apple Cinnamon Grilled Cheese

Jake concocted a nice fall twist on the grilled cheese. It is super yummy (and easy) and I wanted to share!

Ingredients:
Two slices of bread
Butter
Cinnamon
Cheese of your choice
One apple

Spread butter on bread and sprinkle cinnamon over butter. Cut up apple into circular slices and add apple and cheese in between bread. Jake and I used a cinnamon cheese, but you can use any type. We've even tried pepper jack before. Heat on top of stove per usual.

Enjoy!

Go Pack Go!

Jake and I kicked off the new NFL season by having a junk food party during the first Packers game on Thursday. Quite a few jalapeño poppers, chimichangas, cheese sticks, and buffalo chicken dips later, I realized why I don't have junk food parties that often. Poor, full tummy.

Surprise of the evening? Getting my very own Clay Matthews jersey! Best. fiancé. ever.

Best dish of the evening goes to our buffalo chicken dip

Here's the recipe:
1 package cream cheese
1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/2 cup blue cheese or ranch dressing
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

Mix ingredients in a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

Mr. Jake enjoying said dip

My Weekend

I got Jake all to myself this weekend. He came in on Thursday for one of our last premarital counseling sessions with our pastor, Chris. We basically planned out our entire ceremony this time around, and of course had a few convos about faith and pop culture. You know, the usual.

On our way out, this happened.

A good 'ol flat tire. Jake impressed me with his knowledge of what to do in this situation, because I had absolutely no idea. Dad helped us out with a quick trip to the church for a better tire iron and a flashlight. And with their powers combined, we were on the road again!

Friday was booked up with getting new tires, and since we were out and about we caught HP and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. I enjoyed it more the second time around, plus I didn't hide my eyes near as much at the scary parts.

We both have eaten out so much lately that we went adventurous for dinner and made fool, one of my fav dishes from an Egyptian restaurant in Anderson. I must say, we did a pretty darn good job recreating it for having no recipe in front of us. We ate it with tortillas and hummus for good measure. Yum. Take a look:

I have felt so thankful for Jake this weekend. He handles my crazy so well. Through my emotional wedding-induced overwhelming moments, to hurt feelings when facebook reminds me I'm not invited to everything my friends are, and even the times when he takes charge of things I don't even ask him to. He has my back, and I love him to pieces for that.

Hot and Sour Soup

Well, we did end up trying a very involved recipe from this book on Friday, and I'm getting around to sharing those pictures now. Jake and I made Hot and Sour soup, a personal favorite of his from Chinese restaurants. This included quite a list of ingredients, including fresh ginger, sesame oil, and tofu. Oh my, THAT shopping trip was more like a page from "Where's Waldo: Grocery Edition". The whole tofu texture thing is still new to me, but it turned out quite good!

 Jake adding the cilantro

Yep, this was the first tofu buy for me!

 Finished product!

Everything?! Really?

This is my newest (huge) read to tackle. Miss Blair gave me this cookbook for my birthday. She's quite the cook (she did introduce Jake and I to quinoa, which we're mildly obsessed with at the moment), so I very much trust her that this is worth the intimidating thickness. It begins by telling you some basics to cooking in general. For example, some staples to keep in your kitchen so that you can whip up just about anything without going to the store for ingredients. That's the info that I need. I'm kind of new at this whole Mom-not-cooking-for-me thing, so you better start from square one, thank you very much.
I made a sauce for pasta tonight, which went very well. I'm going to try my hand at a far more complicated recipe this weekend, which I'll divulge if I actually go through with it...

If I find any more winners I'll make sure to share!