Tag Archives | recipes

{Good Food Friday} Butternut Quiche

By Mr.Maker on October 19, 2012 in {DIY} Tutorials

These days in Tennessee the mornings are brisk, and it just doesn’t seem right to sit down to a cold breakfast. This week I was able to wake early, and treat the family to one of our most favorite morning dishes, butternut quiche. Sweet butternut squash, smoked Gouda, a buttery crust, and farm fresh eggs combine to warm your tummy on a fall morning.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

For the Crust (store bought is fine)

1 3/4c flour
course salt
9 tbsp of cold butter
1 yolk of an egg
2 tbsp of heavy cream
3 tbsp of ice water

Add flour and a generous pinch of salt together in a food processor; pulse a few times to combine. Cube butter into 1″ pieces, add to food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Toss in the yolk and cream; pulse a couple more times to combine. Add water, 1 tbsp at a time until dough sticks together when squeezed. Cover the dough and refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Roll the dough to fit your pie plate (this recipe will accommodate up to an 11″ plate). Preheat oven to 375. Line crust with parchment paper, add your pie weights, dried beans, or rice and bake 15-17 minutes. Allow to cool, then add your filling.

For the Filling

1 tbsp of butter
1 small onion finely diced
course salt and ground pepper
1/2 butternut squash peeled,seeded, & finely chopped
1 tsp fresh minced sage
pinch of sugar
1 cup freshly grated smoked Gouda (my grocer happens to have a great selection in the deli, check yours, often cheeses are less expensive at the deli counter than at the gourmet cheese bar, additionally fontina, and smoked provolone can be used in substitution)
8 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 375. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion with a generous pinch of salt and pepper until the onion begins to soften ~2-3 minutes. Add squash and sage and cook until squash is softened ~5 minutes more, when done cooking add a pinch of sugar and remove from heat. In a bowl whisk eggs and milk when complete add squash mixture and cheese; stir to blend. Pour mixture into pre-baked pie crust, and bake for 45-50. The center should be jiggly just like The Jolly Man’s belly. Cool for about 20 minutes before serving.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as my family does.
Remember food is only good for you if you eat it!

–Mr.Maker

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{Good Food Friday} Radicchio and Roquefort Pasta

By Mr.Maker on October 12, 2012 in {DIY} Tutorials

I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve been holding out on you.

See, at our house, we love food. REALLY love food.
And it works out perfectly because Mr. Maker loves to cook and I LOVE to eat.
How I don’t weigh a million pounds is beyond me!

We got to thinking that it really is quite selfish of us not to share Mr. Maker’s scrumptious recipes with all you. So we’re going to change that. Starting today, we’re introducing Good Food Friday!

Every Friday we’ll share a new recipe with you.
And by “we,” I mostly mean Mr. Maker.
I may show up from time-to-time to share a few of my favorites,
but to be honest, you’ll probably like Nate’s recipes better!

Read on as Mr. Maker shares a favorite pasta dish!

xoxo Lori Danelle

If you are looking for a dish to give you warm fuzzies on these fall evenings this is the dish for you!! The salty and aged flavor of Roquefort Cheese combines with the bitter tenderness of grilled vegetables to make an earthy, rustic dish for the cool fall evenings.

WHAT YOU’RE GONNA NEED:
1/2 cup Walnut Pieces
3 heads Belgian endive
1 head radicchio
1/2 lb of Roquefort or some other type of blue cheese
3 tbsp of walnut oil
2 tbsp of red wine vinegar
1 lb of ribbon pasta (such has fettuccine)
1/4 cup freshly chopped flat leaf parsley

DIRECTIONS:
In a pan over medium heat toast the walnuts (careful not to over do, or they will taste bitter.)
Cut the vegetables in half lengthwise, brush with oil and grill over indirect heat until they just begin to char. Remove from grill and chop into ribbons.
Combine the cheese, oil, and vinegar mashing to combine. Add the edvine, raddicio, and walnut stir in gently as to not tear the delicate ribbons.
Cook pasta to manufacture’s directions for al dente. Drain, then add cheese mixture, and gently toss to cover being careful not to tear the ribbons.
Season with salt and pepper to taste at table.
Servers 7.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION PER SERVING:
KCAL 616
Protein 18g
Carbs 87g
Fat 22g

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Serve with a sweet wine. Goes well with rotisserie or grilled chicken.

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{Recipe} Corn on the Cob with Chipotle Butter

By Lori on June 25, 2012 in {DIY} Tutorials

Our family is a little bit odd. We grill all year round — it’s healthy, gives great flavor to meat, & is so easy — so to say “summer is for grilling, isn’t exactly a true statement at our house. However, there are some things about summer grilling that are different than the rest of the year.

Namely: Corn on the cob. Come summer, we eat a lot of corn on the cob.

I love everything about corn on the cob. There’s something about shucking corn that just makes me happy. And I love it when the corn gets just a tad charred when cooked on the grill. That’s when it’s perfect. Top it off with some butter and I’m in heaven.

But you know what makes Corn on the Cob to die for?

Chipotle Butter.
Believe me. You’ve got to try this.

1/2 cup salter butter, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon pure chipotle powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Mix the chipotle powder & the lemon juice in a bowl.
Add in the butter & mix with a fork.

That’s it. Seriously.
Pull this recipe out at your next BBQ, slather the chipotle butter on your corn & I promise everyone will think you hung the moon.
It’s that good.

Got a creative project up your sleeve?
Go link up with my friend Jenny at the Southern Institute!

Comments { 3 }

Are you ready?

By Lori on November 29, 2010 in {DIY} Tutorials

Though I was very much against the arrival of Fall, the Holiday season has somehow managed to sneak up on me already (which, was why I was against Fall in the first place).

However, I’m taking it all in stride.
The Christmas tree is up, lights are hung on the house, and I spent my weekend making my family’s traditional peppernuts.
Hope you give them a try. . .they’re quite addicting.

(re-posted from Dec. 1, 2009)

****************************************************************************

Traditions are a funny thing. Sometimes you don’t realize how unique a family tradition is until you get away from your family.

So it is with peppernuts and me.

Every year, RIGHT after Thanksgiving, my Grandma would start baking batches and batches of peppernuts. Growing up, I didn’t even really like them, but couldn’t resist popping one after another in my mouth. Peppernuts taste like Christmas to me. Simple as that.

So, imagine my surprise when I moved to Tennessee and discovered that NO ONE knows what peppernuts are! (My Kansas readers may be shocked at this news, but it’s true.) Since moving here, every year, I get a package in the mail right after Thanksgiving from my Grandma full of peppernuts. (I guess some traditions can’t be contained by distance) Even though I wasn’t home I felt a little bit closer just by tasting those yummy little irresistible cookies.

Once I got married, I too began to make peppernuts right after Thanksgiving—sharing an old family tradition with my new husband and my new family. I even started bringing them to work to spread the joy of peppernuts!

This year was especially fun because the sisters were able to “help.” They at least thought it was fun to stand on the stool and help pour ingredients into the bowl and watch the mixer’s paddle go around. Big sister even helped make snakes—although I am somewhat confident that she ate all hers before they ever got to the oven.

So for those of you who are new to peppernuts, here’s my family’s recipe. I know my Grandma has been making it for the almost 30 years of my lifetime and who knows how long before that. I hope you enjoy! And if you give it a try, I’m willing to bet that you’ll be hooked.

Melt in Your Mouth Peppernuts

1 cup butter
1 and 1/2 C. sugar
1 beaten egg
2 T. dark syrup
3 and 3/4 C. flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cloves
1 t. ginger
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. anise oil

Cream butter, sugar, syrup and egg. Add dry ingredients and anise oil. Chill dough. Roll out into long rolls the size of you little finger. Keep chilled. Slice into small pieces and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. (my gas oven only takes 7 minutes)

Let me know how you like them!

xoxo—Lori

Comments { 11 }

Ripe tomatoes in the garden = Yummy Salsa

By Lori on August 4, 2010 in Things I Make, {DIY} Tutorials

After last year’s garden and the all out war with the slugs, we decided that we really didn’t want to take on that time consuming of an endeavor. But we still love some fresh tomatoes and a few other choice herbs & vegetables, so we planted, but we planted a lot smaller. However, after the Nashville flood in early May, our small garden became smaller when plants washed away and we were left with just tomatoes.

Fine by me.
Because you know what you make out of tomatoes?

SALSA!!!!!!

We had planted cilantro as well, but it washed away with everything else. Oh well! Still yummy with the store bought variety.

Last year I shared my recipe with you. I actually had my laptop sitting in my kitchen with that page up this year so I could remember how to make it. It’s so good!!! I even brought some in to work and my salsa lovin’ co-workers devoured it — quickly I might add.

I think the best thing to do in this case is share that recipe again. Just in case you have some (or 10) tomatoes laying around.

Salsa Recipe
Be warned. This made about 6 cups of salsa and filled my blender to capacity, so you may need to make it in 2 batches which is what I did this year.

10 small to medium tomatoes, seeded and drained
1 yellow onion cut into large pieces
2 jalapenos, seeds removed
1 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 Tbsp Lime juice
2 tsp salt (start with 1 tsp & add as needed)
1 tsp cumin (optional, I love cumin)

Throw all of this in the blender and then use the Pulse feature on your blender and the Chop button.

(Little girls love to help with this part — but I highly suggest completely unplugging the blender every time you take the lid off!! Not talking from experience, but it just seems like wise advise.)

From this point, taste (with a chip of course!) and if you’re happy, stop. If not, just start adding herbs & spices. The things I am most likely to add are salt, lime juice, cumin & maybe some chili powder if I’m wanting more heat. Always add less than you think you’ll need as it’s not so easy to take it out once it’s in!!

I do a LOT of tasting when I cook.

There’s a good chance it will look pink for awhile. But that’s normal and is caused by the air being pulled into the mixture while in the blender.

To give the flavors a chance to blend properly and to allow your salsa to turn from pink to red and to “deflate”, I prefer to put it in the fridge over night in an air-tight container.