Jalepeno Chili Cornbread Stuffing Waffles

My dear friend Patty and her husband came for dinner tonight.

This is her guest post.

She showed me this photo she had taken of Thanksgiving left overs.

I will be trying this recipe out.  It sounds wonderful.

She made cornbread stuffing with jalepenos for Thanksgiving and the leftovers became waffles with turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy on top.

She sent the recipe and today it arrived.  It was adapted from a recipe from Allrecipes.com

Patty's Cornbread Stuffing with Chilies and Jalepenos

1/4 cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1  Eight ounce package Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing
1/4 pound sage Jimmy Dean's Sausage
1 4.5 ounce can chopped green chilies, drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Jalepeno Peppers (she did not say how many)
craisins (she did not say how much)

1.  Heat oven to 350
2.  Melt butter, add onion and celery.  Cook to tender, crisp.  Remove from heat
3.  Add broth, stuffing, cooked sausage, chilies, jalepenos, craisins and cilantro.
4.  Mix lightly.  Spoon into greased 2 quart casserole.  Cover the casserole.
 5.  Bake for 30 minutes until mixture is hot.

Sour Dough Pizza Crust

Y'all know by now that I'm enjoying sourdough in every way I can think of.

Over the past few days I made 4 batches of sourdough cinnamon rolls.  That might have started a new family tradition.  They were spectacular.

Now I have 2/3 cup of left over sourdough starter and company coming for dinner to celebrate my husband's birthday.

He suggested home made pizza.  I have been making pizza dough for years and years.  Probably over 30 years as I was given a home made pizza dough recipe by a relative for my wedding shower.

Here is that original recipe.  I used it as the basis for this new one today.

Homemade Pizza Dough
From Cheryl Ross

4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon yeast
1 1/3 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt

Knead 10 minutes.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rise 2 hours.

Makes enough for 2 twelve inch pizzas.

Sprinkle pan with corn meal prior to placing dough on baking pan.

Bake 400 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.

Put pizza toppings on and bake for a few more minutes to melt cheese.

Sourdough Pizza Crust

4 cups all purpose white flour, I use Wheat Montana brand
2/3 cup proofed sourdough
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1 3/4 cup water about 125 degrees.
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Italian Herbs

Knead in Bosch mixer for 8 minutes.

Let sit for a couple hours.

Roll out on clay baking stone.

Since my baking stone is well seasoned I don't use cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking.

This dough was quite soft and sticky so I rolled it out with my unique dough roller from Pampered Chef.  You can see it in one of the pictures.

Then I let it raise in a warmish oven for 1 3/4 hours.

Take pizza stone with dough on it out of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using a fork, poke the pizza dough in several places so it does not puff up too much.

The first time I did this, it made a pocket bread because it puffed up so much.  Guess that would be a fun idea for a future batch.

Put in preheated oven and bake for 17 minutes.

Remove from oven, add toppings.  I used Ragu Pizza sauce, grated cheddar, grated Mozzarella, precooked sausage and pepperoni.

Return to oven and bake for 7 to 10 minutes.

Serve warm.

Sour Dough Cinnamon Rolls

My friend Gretchen, shared her sourdough starter about a year and half ago.

Since then I've made many recipes with it and have had a very fun time experimenting.  Mostly I make sourdough pancakes or dinner rolls (see a Feb. 2016 about that).

Today is the first time I have ever made sourdough cinnamon rolls and it was a success.

 

They came out of the oven just as dinner was going in the oven tonight, so we ate cinnamon rolls and drank milk before supper.  Is it any wonder we didn't have much appetite for anything else?

Here are the steps and the recipe is at the end.

Proof the sourdough twice.  Here it is starting it's second proofing.   Mix equal parts sourdough starter, white flour and water.  I use Wheat Montana White Flour and Strong Alkaline water from our water machine.

 

I left it sitting on the cupboard overnight under a towel.

 

Next morning this is what it looked like.  I used one cup in the pancake batter.

 

I put one cup of this starter in the fridge for future use and there was still a half cup left over so I fed it again in equal parts and let it sit another day.  This would be the third proofing.

On my lunch break today I mixed up the dough for cinnamon rolls.  The steps are shown here:

Rolled out dough on the roul'pat.

 

Spread with one cube of soft butter

Sprinkle generously with ground cinnamon.  This was about 4 Tablespoons.

 Spread about one cup loosely packed brown sugar over everything.

 Then roll it up.

 

Using dental floss, cut sections.

 

Place the rolls loosely in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

 

Let raise for 4 hours in a warm place.  I placed a towel over the top.  I had turned the oven on for lunch and our Large Le Cruset Soup Pot sits on the burner that has the oven vent.  So it was warm and retains heat.  That was the perfect warm spot for this.

 

Four hours later...perfectly raised.

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake for 13 minutes.  And this is what it looked like:

 

Flip it out on a tray and this is the result.  It's still warm and we really did eat dessert before dinner tonight.

 

Here is the recipe I used.  I adapted another recipe I had in my file:

In the Bosch bread mixer fitted with dough hook, put in the wet ingredients:

1/2 cup room temp whole milk

1 cup sourdough starter, proofed at least twice

1/3 cup melted butter

2 eggs, room temp

Blend in 

1 teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup white sugar

1 Tablespoon vital wheat gluten

Then add

2.5 cups all purpose white flour, I use Wheat Montana 

Add just a little more flour (12-27-2016 I added 6 tablespoons) if needed to pull it together.  The dough should still be soft and sort of sticky.

Roll out onto a baking mat such as the Demarle Roul'pat

And spread on

One cube softened butter

3 or 4 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar.

Roll up, cut pieces with dental floss and place in a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish.

Raise 4 hours in a warm place.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 20 minutes.

Turn out onto a tray and be sure and taste them while warm.

For the next time I'm going to do this the way my mother does. 

These are her words:

 To make them really gooey put 1 cube melted butter, 1 cup brown sugar and more cinnamon in the bottom of the pan and mix well before adding the cinnamon rolls.

This is the photo of the cinnamon rolls tipped upside down when I used my mother's recipe on 12-25-16.

Pico De Gallo with Heirloom Tomatoes

Here is a photo of the delicious heirloom tomatoes I got a couple days ago.

I have a favorite local farm stand where in past years I have gotten heirloom veggie plants, especially tomatoes.

As things have shifted and I know more about what makes me truly happy, I no longer garden.

Instead, I am having the time of my life helping other women repair difficult marriages.

So now I have the delightful experience to drive out into the country every few days (this time of year anyway) to visit my friend Amy at Frog Hollow Farm.

I was there twice this week and headed out again today.

For the past several days I have made a fresh batch of Pico De Gallo. 

What a treat!

Here is the recipe:

1.5 lbs of heirloom tomatoes, cut in largish chunks.
1/3 cup Walla Walla sweet onion, chopped and lightly sauted in coconut oil, cooled
1/2 lime, zest and juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh Thai basil
Sea Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Serve at room temp.

Makes about 5 cups.

Italian Lemon Pound Cake

 

Oh my!  This Italian Lemon Pound Cake recipe was shared by a facebook friend.

This is the link to the original recipe:

http://myrecipeconfessions.com/desserts/italian-lemon-pound-cake/ 

I use quite a few Demarle molds and trays.  My facebook friend had a struggle and I wanted to find out if I could help sort out the problem so I made the recipe too.

It was a smashing success.  I will make this again.  Wow!  Oh just wow!

Assembling the ingredients and choosing the Demarle ring mold.

 

Zesting the lemons smells wonderful.

 

 

I seriously could have eaten this whole thing by myself.  I didn't, but I could have.

Turtle Cheesecake

Today while making this recipe I couldn't remember when I made before.  It must have come from Heider Pied (my sister for those of you who don't know her nick-name from when she was a baby).

I know one of us made it because there are notes in the recipe about using Demarle Bakeware. That really narrows it down.

Later, I found these 3 photo in one of my folders which she sent me.   This confirms my thought she sent the recipe with the Demarle notes.

Last night I mentioned to my husband I want to make this recipe today because birthdays are coming up.  He took my list and went to the store.  Some of the ingredients he chose were premium...like the cream and butter.  I like that and he knows it.

Assembled ingredients:

Carmel pieces melting in cream

 Yum!  He brought me Amish Country Style Butter.

My helper crushes the Graham Crackers.

 

The recipe...

 

Turtle Cheesecake

( Do not make unless you have plenty of time. Note: Takes two days to

make)  One cheesecake goes a long way. Very rich!  I also loved the mini-cheesecakes that I made in the bouquet tray!

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

6 Tbs. butter melted

1 1/3 cups heavy cream, divided

25 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped

4 pkgs. (8 oz each) cream cheese, at room temp.

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

2 yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract, divided

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 Tbs. granulated sugar

2-3 turtle candies, cut into chunks

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap bottom and side of 9" springform pan with double layer of foil (If not using Demarle mold). In bowl combine crumbs, pecans and butter; transfer to pan. Using bottom of measuring cup, press mixture onto bottom and 1/2" up side of pan. 

Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven; reserve.

2)Meanwhile in pot heat 1/4 cup cream over low heat. Add caramels; cook, stirring until melted. Transfer 2 Tbs. caramel sauce to plastic food storage bag; reserve.

Pour remaining sauce into crust. Cool

3 At high speed beat cream cheese until smooth, 4 minutes. Beat in brown sugar until fluffy, 4 minutes. Reduce speed to medium; gradually beat in sour cream, eggs, yolks and 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. 

Increase  speed to medium high; beat until slightly increased in volume. 4 minutes. Pour batter into curst. Place pan in large roasting pan; fill roasting pan with hot water halfway up side of springform pan. Bake 1 hour, 15 minutes or until center jiggles slightly when pan is shaken. Remove from water. Run spatula around edge of cake to loosen (Not needed if using DeMarle mold). Remove foil. Cool on rack 2 hours; refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

4) Remove side from pan (If using Demarle, peel the bakeware away)

Heat 1/3 cup cream over low heat. Add chocolate; remove from heat. Stir until smooth. Transfer 2 Tbs. 

chocolate sauce to plastic food storage bags; reserve. Spread remaining chocolate sauce over cheesecake, as shown. Let stand 10 minutes.

5)Beat remaining 3/4 cup cream and vanilla with granulated sugar until stiff peaks form. If desired, transfer to plastic food storage bag with one corner snipped; pipe rosettes or spoon mounds over cake top. Garnish with turtle candies. Heat reserved caramel sauce in microwave on High in 5-second intervals until melted but not hot. 

Snip one corner of each bag of caramel and chocolate sauces; drizzle over cake.

Quick tip:  The secret to evenly baked cheesecake? Allowing at least 1" of space between the pan and the sides of the roasting pan you use for the water bath. And choose a roasting pan no taller than the springform pan.

Notes from Bonda:  3-19-16  Making this today in a 8.5" Demarle Round Cake Shape Mold.  Didn't buy Turtle candies.  Will be okay though because all the ingredients in those will be drizzled over the top anyway.

More photos later.

3-20-16  This was a lot of work.  It was not my favorite recipe.  Putting whipping cream on this does not really work.  Whipping cream should be used as a garnish just as it is served.  It melted too quickly.  Also, I didn't care for the dark brown sugar in the cheese cake.

I liked the crust with pecans in it very much.  Do that again.  I liked it in the Demarle round cake mold shape.

I like how easily the mold peels off.  Do a double tip out.

Finished results...

Sourdough Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

This was one of those fortunate accidents.  I suppose this is how many new recipes are made.

I have a couple friends who also like to experiment with sour dough recipes.

One friend, Gretchen, gave me some 130 year old sour dough starter and it is such a good one.  She got it about 40 years ago from a former employer when she was in college and working at a family owned cafe.  It was handed down by the cafe owners family for generations.

Another friend gave me this recipe for Buttermilk Biscuits saying they were experimenting with adding sour dough starter to the mix in varying amounts.

2 cups plus 2.5 tablespoons all purpose, unbleached white flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar,  (I substituted raw honey)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold butter  (oops forgot this part)
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 farm fresh egg

My addition:
1 1/3 cup room temperature sourdough starter which has been left out of the fridge and fed each day for 5 days.  Last feeding was one day ago.  I also have been using it for sour dough pancakes to keep it used up.  That wonderful recipe will be posted later.

Mixed dough ingredients together at noon and let it sit in a bowl to raise at room temp.  At 4 P.M. I put the dough into the heart shaped Demarle tray and let sit in the oven with the light on for warmth until 6:30.  Then I turned the oven on to 350 degrees and baked 20 minutes.  Perfection...unless you were expecting biscuits.

I set out to make the buttermilk biscuit recipe and I was expecting company that night...the very company who had given me the recipe.  We were looking over the recipe just before dinner. The biscuits were almost done.  That's when I realized I forgot the cold butter.  How could I do that?

Well whatever, it is what it is and dinner is almost ready.

We sat down to eat and we were so surprised at how good they were.  They were like a chewy gourmet french bread.  Wow!  That was Monday...this is Friday.  I made them again tonight and this time took photos.

I will go back to this recipe lots and lots.

I used up the rest of the dough in the Demarle Hamburger Bun Tray.

Sourdough English Muffins with Whole Wheat

I have some extra sourdough to use up and wanted to do something different.

I also had some left over milk that was poured off a butternut gratin recipe a few days ago.  I should post that recipe too.  I thought it was really good but I couldn't get the others in my household to agree.

1 cup warm water, 120 degrees

1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons honey
1 cup sourdough starter
3 cups white flour
4 cups Prairie Gold Whole Wheat Flour
1 cube butter
1 Tablespoons sea salt

Spread dough on Roul' Pat, cut with large round Demarle cutter.

Bake on Silpat at 350 degrees for 22 minutes.

They disappeared quick.  They must have been good.  I thought they were anyway.

December 15, 2022 Daughter made this recipe again.  She raised the dough 40 min. In warm oven before using the cutter.  Then make the cut outs and raise 30 minutes in warm oven.

And then bake as written above.

This dough was rather stiff.  Could add more liquid.

Something Cold, Soft and Nutritious

My friend had her tonsils removed today.  I wanted to offer something that would help her.

She said they were trying to think of something for her to eat that would be cold, soft and nutritious.

Here is a peach smoothie we came up with:

1 15 ounce can organic coconut milk, 
1 quart size ziploc bag of frozen peaches, still frozen
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons calcium powder
3 tablespoons Maca powder
1/4 cup raw honey
1/2 teaspoon real vanilla
1/4 cup fresh ground flax seed flour
1/2 teaspoon REAL sea salt with minerals
5 drops Doterra Lemon Essential Oil
1 tray of ice cubes. 

Blend together until slushy. Taste test and may need to add more honey.

No photo so far.  When I redo this I will take one.  She said it was great.