Tasty Bites: Soft Gingerbread Recipe

By Beth V

With Christmas approaching, I was recently inspired to try an old-fashioned gingerbread recipe. Gingerbread makes a great breakfast or dessert. It is not so sweet to be only limited to dessert-time and it goes wonderfully with a cup of coffee or tea. This recipe produces a super -soft and moist, perfectly spiced, moderately sweet pan of gingerbread. This gingerbread is perfectly comfortable to stand on its own, but it also enjoys the company of a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar or a dollop of freshly whipped cream on occasion. (Click on the links for previous recipes where this is further explained.)

Start by creaming together softened butter and brown sugar until creamy, then add in three eggs, one at a time until well-combined. Now, blend in some molasses.

Set this aside and combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Now, combine a cup of boiling water with two teaspoons baking soda.  I am not sure why the recipe calls for this step instead of just adding the baking soda into the dry ingredients, but it does turn out very nicely. Next time I make it, maybe I will try adding it to the dry ingredients to see if it makes a difference. This time I decided not to mess with a good thing. And, your children may really enjoy this extra step because the chemical reaction of the baking soda with the boiling water causes the mixture to rapidly bubble and fizz. I admit it was pretty fun to watch and it was a great reminder that cooking is science.

Click to read more ...

Tasty Bites: Double Chocolate Peppermint Chunk Cookies and Kiss Pies

By Beth V

If you are like me, the Christmas season presents a great opportunity to try a couple of new cookie recipes to supplement the old tried and true varieties. I stumbled upon two recently that were not only delicious-sounding, but also really cute visually, and pretty easy to pull off. One had a chewy, fudgy cookie with a melted peppermint/white chocolate Hershey’s Kiss melted on top. What a delicious flavor combination! The other uses refrigerated pie crust cut into circles and sealed around a Hershey’s kiss creating adorable little hand-held “kiss pies.” A recipe with less than five ingredients? Sure, why not supplement more complicated baking with something so easy and cute? I did find some delicious Mint Truffle kisses for my “kiss pies,” but my local stores were out of the peppermint-striped Candy Cane Kisses, so I was happy to find these delicious Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips and I set to work creating my own version.

Click to read more ...

Tasty Bites: Stromboli

By Beth

A friend of mine recently organized a Freezer Meal Swap (see my last post on Adventures in Freezer Cooking). Four busy moms each prepared four of the same recipe and then we met to swap them and each went home with four dinners that are already prepped and in the freezer.  I prepared a Stromboli for each family.  Here is a Stromboli tutorial for you! I was inspired by this and this recipe.

Start out with frozen bread dough or your favorite basic dough recipe. Thaw the dough and allow it to rise according to the package directions, or use your own dough.  I used this dough and it is really easy and fool-proof.  Here is the beautiful, bubbly, risen dough ready to be spread.

Spread the dough in a rough rectangle and then roll it out in all directions into a larger rectangle, approximately 18”x12.”

Layer ½ lb of sliced mozzarella or provolone, followed by about 10 slices of Genoa salami, a couple of handfuls of pepperoni (I found 22 pieces to be just about perfect!) and a couple of handfuls of diced ham (about 30 pieces).

Click to read more ...

Tasty Bites: Adventures in Freezer Cooking

By Beth

Have you ever tried freezer cooking?  Freezer cooking can fit into any lifestyle.  It can involve a very small or a very large investment of time, but this investment that can save time and money on busy days when you do not have time to cook. Stocking up a stash of homemade convenience foods also gives you complete control over the ingredients based on your family’s taste preferences or health concerns. You can prepare freezer meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks. Now is a great time to think about doing some freezer cooking to help ease the busyness of the upcoming holiday season!  Here are some common freezer-cooking strategies:

Batch Cooking – Putting together a few meals with the same ingredient. For example, chicken is on sale, so put together several meals featuring chicken and put them into the freezer.

Cook Once, Eat Twice – Plan your meals so that you make two of each recipe. Eat one that night for dinner, put the 2^nd into the freezer for another night. Double the recipe of pancakes one morning that you have time to cook them, freeze the leftovers in bags containing the number you would need for each breakfast and reheat them in the toaster oven or microwave on a busy morning.

Click to read more ...

Tasty Bites: Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup

By Beth

I don’t know about you, but when fall comes, I cannot get enough of pumpkin! Last year, I posted about how to roast a pumpkin and create pumpkin puree. I shared a recipe for Pumpkin, Apple and Bacon Soup and these deliciously moist Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins. Today, I am going to share with you one of my most favorite pumpkin recipes over the last several years - Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Syrup.

These warm, autumn-spiced pancakes are so fluffy and moist. They are made with a combination of all-purpose flour and white, whole- wheat flour. These do not taste remotely “wheaty,” but rest assured, there is a little hit of extra fiber from the whole wheat flour plus all of the wonderful added nutrition from the pumpkin puree.  You can find white, whole-wheat flour, sometimes called whole-wheat pastry flour, at most grocery stores. 

This flour is made from soft, white wheat, which contains the same nutritional benefits as regular whole-wheat flour, but can be used in most recipes that call for all-purpose flour. It yields more delicate texture and more mild flavor than traditional whole wheat flour, which is milled from hard, red wheat.  I often add some white whole-wheat flour into my pizza dough, pancakes, muffins and quick breads, and, of course, it makes a very mild and soft loaf of whole-wheat bread. 

First, we are going to combine all of the liquid ingredients in a large bowl - pumpkin puree, milk, egg, vegetable oil and vinegar. Vinegar, you ask? Vinegar or lemon juice combines with the milk and basically “sours” the milk and turns it into buttermilk. This ingredient helps yield a lighter, fluffier pancake and you will not taste it at all in the finished product…just a necessary ingredient in the chemistry of fluffy pancakes.

Click to read more ...