Sweet Summertime

     In case I haven't mentioned it on here (I don't think I have) and in case I haven't mentioned it to you personally (I probably have, though, I mention it to a lot of people), know this: I make breakfast/lunch twice a week for my family of 8.  See, my mom and I did a trade off: I make breakfast instead of cleaning the chicken coop.  I really think I got the better end of the deal.  But, I can't simply throw cereal, milk, and bowls on the table.  8 people go through cereal really really fast.  I have to actually make breakfast.
     Mom started this serious breakfast-making when we were in South Africa, needing to eat at 6 AM so we could be out the door at 6:20.  Breakfast is varied, filling, and delicious: cobbler, clafouti (klah-FOO-ti), chocolate cake, baked french toast, hash, banana bread, etc.  Desserts work really well for breakfast - just cut the sugar, and it gets pretty healthy.  And all of these (or almost all) can be mixed up, spread into her stoneware Pampered Chef 9x13 pan the night before, and ready to go in the morning. But even with this vast variety, you can get a little bored.  Oh the tedium of plenty.
     Through the long, cold, dark winter days, when I wake up before the sun and am out the door soon after, I don't have time to make fun breakfasts.  Breakfasts where you have to think it through and then spend time doing it?  No, I must be content making it the night before and setting the oven to start at oh-dark-thirty.  Also, that fresh fruit, straight from our garden or a local farmer, which adds color, flavor, and zing to any breakfast dish, is seriously lacking in the middle of the winter.
     So, now summer's starting (they're calling for a high of 90°F today!) and I get to have fun!  Apricots, peaches, berrrrriiiiieeeessss (yum), bananas, apples... all readily available to me.  I wanted some kiwi, too, but it turned out I ate the last one a few days ago.  Oh well.  So blossomed this gorgeously scrumptious breakfast.  I should also note that the original recipe (which I won't even reference because I don't think I ever followed it) called for a sugar cookie base, but that's not such a great idea with 7 kids.  Um, hyper anyone?  The biscuit base worked just as well.  And I still got up at 6 AM to start breakfast, but it wasn't dark.  So I was happy.  MMMMMmmmmmmm...







Summer Breakfast Pizza
serves 8-10
oven 450°F

Ingredients:

Biscuits:
3 c whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c butter
1 c milk

Cream Cheese Spread:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp orange juice
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
2 tsp orange zest

Topping:
1-2 cups of fruit.  I used strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apricots, apples, and bananas.  The blueberries were frozen, so I thawed them first, but everything else was fresh.

Directions:

1. In a food processor, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt.  Cut in butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add milk all at once.  Mix just until dough clings together. 
2. Lightly flour a pizza pan and pat dough out onto the pan.  The dough will be sticky; add more flour as needed, and then lick your fingers. 
3. Bake in a 450°F oven for 10-12 minutes or till golden.  
4. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, orange juice, powdered sugar, and orange zest until well blended.  Set aside. 
5. Prepare fruit topping.  Thaw anything (like blueberries) that's frozen.  Slice larger pieces of fruit (like apples, apricots, strawberries) so they will lie flat on the biscuit.  Set aside.
6. When you pull the biscuit out of the oven, spread the cream cheese over the top while the biscuit is still warm. This way, the cream cheese will melt and spread more easily.  Spread as far out to the edges as you can.  You may have some cream cheese leftover, but it will be good on toast 
or snack. 
7. Create a beautiful fruit arrangement on top and serve to your family.  Be prepared to watch it disappear in an eighth of the time it took you to prepare it, but be sure to help with that disappearing act. 

Credit where credit is due:
Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, 1990s edition
Orange Nut Bread & Cream Cheese Spread, Taste of Home, Karen Sue Garback-Pristera

Gallo Pinto

This is one of my favorite recipes from my mission trip to Costa Rica five years ago, made often by my mom for breakfast.  The recipe was given to us by the locals who hosted us.

GALLO PINTO
1 medium onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 celery stalks, fairly well chopped (include the leaves).
˝ sweet pepper, finely chopped.
˝ bunch of cilantro, chopped.
One stick of butter
2 cups of white rice (cooked, preferably a day or two in advance).
1 pound can of black beans.
ź cup of Salsa Lizano.
˝ teaspoon of salt (optional).

1.  Cook the rice (it usually takes four cups of water to cook two cups of rice).  Set aside.  It is best to set the cooked rice overnight.
2.  Cook the minced onion, garlic, and celery with the stick of butter (margarine) on medium heat in a Dutch oven pan until the vegetables are soft.  Add the sweet pepper and cilantro and continue to cook for about 3 minutes.
3.  Add the beans and stir them in with the vegetables.  Cook about 5 minutes.
4.  Add the rice and stir the beans, vegetables and rice together.
5.  Add the Salsa Lizano and salt.  Stir everything together. Continue heating until warm.

Good served with scrambled eggs and sour cream.

The quantities and times can be varied to taste.

You can also cook the black beans instead of using canned beans.

Enjoy!

Best Brownie Recipe

These are my favorite brownies:

Ingredients: 
     1 cup butter
     1 1/2 cup flour
     1 cup cocoa powder
     1/2 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp baking powder
     1 cup sugar
     1 Tbsp vanilla extract
     4 eggs
     6 oz chocolate, chopped OR 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Oven 350°F (175°C)
Instructions:  
     1.  Melt butter on stovetop or in microwave.  Lightly grease 9x13 pan.
     2. While the butter is melting, whisk flour and cocoa together with salt and baking soda.  Set aside.
     3.  Combine melted butter, sugar, and vanilla together.
     4.  Beat the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.  
     5.  Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture.  
     6.  Toss the chocolate in a light dusting of flour and stir them into the batter with a spoon or spatula. (The flour will keep the chocolate pieces suspended in the brownies so you have nice bites of pure chocolate.)
     7.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Spread the batter in the pan, slightly mounding on sides so it will all bake evenly.  
     8.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  
     9.  Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from http://www.instructables.com/id/Brownie-Recipe/ 

You scream, I scream, we all scream for Ice Cream

     I <3 good ice cream.  It's probably something I've inherited or learned from my mom - in the states, we used to have a minimum of 5 ice cream flavors in our freezer at a time, normally being closer to 10.  Ben & Jerry's and Cold Stone Creamery were two of my favorite Ice Cream shops, and when we moved to South Africa we were surprised to find that the amount of flavors available was small compared to what we were used to.  A solution had to be discovered!  So I pulled out our ice cream maker.  
     Ice cream, sorbets, gelato, frozen yogurt.... they're all actually very easy to make.  Recipes can be found all over the web, and the result is yummmmmmy.  My favorite homemade flavors so far have been Berry Cheescake, Mint Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Sorbet, Rocky Road, and Lemon Sorbet. Other flavors I've made that have been well liked include Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Snickerdoodle, Tropical Sorbet, and Butter Pecan.  
     Today I want to share a couple basic recipes with you - raspberry sorbet and butter pecan.  

Raspberry Sorbet

Soo yummy - but, then, I <3 sorbets.  I find them very refreshing.  If you want to be daring and edit this, just replace the fresh raspberries with other fruits, adjusting sugar quantity if necessary.  Or you can just google the kind of sorbet you want.  


1 1⁄2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 lb. fresh raspberries (about 5 cups)

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1. In a 2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Reduce heat to low and simmer, without stirring, to make a syrup, for 5 minutes.

2. Pour the syrup into a medium bowl, stir in vanilla extract, and transfer to the freezer to let chill for 15 minutes.  At the same time, put your sorbet-tub-to-be into the freezer to chill so that it won't melt the sorbet when it is poured in.

3. Purée 1 lb. of the raspberries (about 4 cups) with the syrup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Scrape the purée through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard the seeds. Stir lemon juice into the raspberry purée and pour it into a 2-quart ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions until almost set but still a little slushy, about 25 minutes.  (Alternatively, pour the sorbet mixture into your chilled tub and stick in the freezer.  Stir every 15 minutes until firm (a couple of hours), making sure to scrape the edges.)

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

I'm using this recipe, and not the Cheesecake or Rocky Road recipes because it is based off of a simple vanilla custard, which is something that needs to be understood very well before tackling harder recipes.  Most ice creams have custard bases, and things like Mint Choc Chip or Rocky Road or Choc Chip Cookie Dough just have extra things added.  The butter pecans are yummy, so be sure to hide them out of sight (out of mind) if you want to have any left over for the ice cream :)

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a small skillet over medium heat, saute pecans in butter, salt, and 1 Tbsp sugar until lightly browned, stirring frequently.  Note: they burn easily.  Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs.  Set aside. 

3. In a medium saucepan , combine sugar and half and half and heat until the milk is steaming, without allowing it to boil.  

4. Slowly add the half and half to the beaten eggs, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the eggs.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook until it reaches 175°F, or until it coats the back of a wooden spoon, being careful to not allow it to overheat.  

5. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve into cream (this removes any eggs that might have cooked and any burnt milk).  Add vanilla.  Chill for several hours or overnight.    

6. Put your ice-cream-tub-to-be into the freezer to chill.  Freeze ice cream mixture according to ice cream maker manufacturer's directions.  Before transferring to your chilled tub, stir in pecans.  (Alternatively, pour the ice cream mixture into your chilled tub and stick in the freezer.  Stir every 30 minutes until firm (a couple of hours), making sure to scrape the edges)

     

     Those are the recipes!  At the bottom is a bibliography - gotta give credit where credit is due!  A couple things I've discovered (by error and error): having that wanna-be-tub in the freezer makes a huge difference when using an ice cream maker, so the ice cream doesn't melt the instant it hits the tub; the sugar-salt-vanilla-stuff content of the ice cream effects how well something freezes and if it's hard or soft (so don't change it too much, especially if you're cutting back on something); and having an ice cream maker is totally worth it.  Of course, that's coming from an ice cream <3er.  I think the consistency of the ice cream is nicer that way.

     Another thing about living in South Africa - since I'm an expat (foreigner), I can't get a job.  God has provided though, through this <3 of ice cream.  I'll be selling my homemade, all-natural ice cream at a local market and through a co-op.  God constantly reminds me that He will provide for all my needs, and that His plan is the best. 

Bibliography: 

www.thekitchengeneration.com

www.davidlebovitz.com

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butter-pecan-ice-cream/  

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Raspberry-Sorbet

Cranberry Muffin Recipe

One thing that I really enjoy is baking. I love to make cookies, muffins, cake, brownies - anything easy and delicious! Today I am going to share one of my favorite recipes. It's for extra yummy cranberry muffins. Muffins can be a great breakfast and snack food, no matter what kind. Normally I would make these with the left-over cranberry sauce from thanksgiving but they taste great any time of year.


Before making, make sure you have all of the necessary ingredients. 

Ingredients needed:
2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Oil
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup (about 1/2 can) Whole Cranberry Sauce

Directions:
Preheat  oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
Beat together eggs, oil, milk, and cranberries in another bowl.
Poor wet ingredients into the well made by the dry ingredients and stir until moistened.
Batter will be  lumpy.
Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 of the way full.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. (check at 18 minutes)
EAT!