Since it's a small section so far, I'll not categorize these just yet. These are recipes that I've either created/dabbled with my own take of it. Enjoy :)
Brandied Strawberries:
It's very easy. All you need is some fresh, ripe strawberries that has been
cleaned of the green leaves and washed thoroughly. Some brandy *flavored ones
in some sort of berry or other sweet flavors are preferred*. And perhaps some
whip cream *cool whip works fine if ya don't want to whip up some from heavy
cream*
You allow the strawberries to sit in the brandy for at least 1 hour to overnight
at room temperature. Then add a dollop of cream before serving. Quite tasty
:3
For minors, here's a version that could work as well. Replace the brandy with
some jello in a berry flavor. Add strawberries or other fruit/berries and dollop
with cream after it has firmed. You can add a sparkly fruit juice or soda in
the jello to give it a little more kick *sans the tipsyness of course
Here's a tip on making crystallized flowers/leaves for cake or dessert decorations.
First have a selection of edible flowers/leaves,
lightly whisked egg white,
super-fine sugar. (not powdered or granulated)
Brush the egg whites over the flower/leaves. Lightly dredge with sugar. Place
on a nonstick cookie sheet in a cool oven with the door ajar for 3 hours. Secure
them in place with egg white.
Quick and easy banana nut bread:
Autumn Harvest Bread:
1 box Pillsbury Pumpkin Bread mix (or any premade pumpkin bread mix)
1 cup goat milk
2 brown eggs
2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 dash of each cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and anise (powdered)
pine nuts
walnuts (chopped)
dried raisins
dried cranberries
optional:
pecan
almond
Now this will be a fairly hearty bread depending on how much nuts/fruits you
add. It's great fresh out of the oven and makes a wonderful dessert/snack.
Basically follow directions on the box for the most part, replacing the water
for goat milk and regular eggs with brown ones. Add the honey, vanilla and a
dash of each of the spices. Stir as directed on the box.
The reason I don't add measurements to the nuts/fruits, is because I'm leaving
it up to you on how much ya want. You'll have to mix them up in a separate bowl
anyways. For topping, pick one or two of the nuts or fruits you'd like to use
as a topping and set some aside that you aren't going to use in any mix. I've
placed pecans and almonds as optional cause I haven't used them in this recipe
yet, but they'll also be good additions if ya just love a nutty bread. Or you
can leave out or add in which ever nuts you like. Like I mentioned, in a separate
bowl, mix all the nuts and fruits together. It doesn't matter if you have too
much, I'll tell ya what you can do with any left overs. You kind of have to
go with a feel on how much to add but basically you'll want about an even amount
of each, give or take more or less depending on preference. Then add a dash
of each of the spices then toss everything together. For those who want generous
nut/fruits, use about two handful of the mix for every 1 box of the bread mix.
Otherwise 1 handful will do. Mix everything together and pour into loaf pans
at about half way. Use the fruit/nut set aside to sprinkle on top before placing
in oven to cook. Follow direction on the box on how long and what setting to
cook the bread at. And voila!
This is what you can do with the left over fruit/nut mix. Otherwise you can
store them in a tight container for later use or eat them as they are as a trail
mix.
Autumn Harvest sweet granola/topping:
Fruit/nut mix
honey
optional:
a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, anise and/or clove powder
Place the mix in a pan and drizzle just enough honey to nicely coat the mix.
Use low-medium heat and when the honey becomes a little runny from being warmed,
sprinkle in the spices. You can also sprinkle in the spices before you add the
honey if ya want the mix to have more of the spice coating otherwise doing it
after will spread the spices more. I've added it as an option on this part because
you would already have the same spices on the mix but you can add the same amount
more for a more stronger spice flavor.
Now this can be used as a topping over say, ice cream, cakes or other breads.
Add more honey to make it more drizzly.
To make it into a more granola texture. Heat up some marshmallows with a little butter before adding everything else, but add only a little bit of honey. Then when they are easy to handle without burning yourself shape them up and cool. Or you can put them all in a pan while hot and just cut squares :3
To make whip cream is very simple. It'll simply depend on
how much ya want to make as well. You'll want the bowl to be chilled. A chilled
bowl is suppose to help keep the whipped cream's form. Pour heavy cream into
the bowl and use an electric mixer (trust me, by hand is a pain and takes longer)
and start out at a decent speed that doesn't make the stuff splatter everywhere,
but enough to get it to start to thicken. As it thickens enough to not splatter
as much gradually increase the speed till it forms a nice fluffy texture. What
I like to do a little before it gets to that consistency, is add a little sugar
to sweeten some more. When done, be sure that if you want to stir it some to
where it's more neater looking, do folding instead of actual stirring. That
way it doesn't kill that fluffy texture. Note that when ya make this you'll
want to serve immediately, since I find the texture will start to break down
after about 15-20 minutes. Especially if you're gonna dollop over something
hot (it'll melt into a liquid again X.x). Although it'll keep a little longer
if ya let it sit in the fridge, you'll still want to serve it quickly. It doesn't
take long to make so it's great to make right before serving desserts and stuff.
Meatloaf:
2 lb lean ground beef (at least 80%)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, whole stone ground mustard
3-4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 egg
3/4 to 1 cup of breadcrumbs
about 1/4 cup of chopped onions
You can add a 1/2 cup of bell peppers and/or 2 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
to give it more italian flavor.
preheat over to 350 degree F. Mix all ingredients, I usually just sort of lightly, but thoroughly, fold everything together by hand. Just make sure your hands are clean before and after As tempting as it may be, don't squeeze the ingredients through your fingers. Cook for 1hr 15-20 min. Serves 6-10.
Now for the sauce, I use ketchup, but add a bit of seasoning to give it zest.
Now you can apply this sauce over the meatloaf before you put it in the oven
or you can apply it in the middle of cooking, by removing it from the oven at
half time and applying. I normally spread it over the meatloaf before placing
in the oven, but I will warn ya, if you are using a pan that's wider than the
loaf itself the juices and sauce will flow off the loaf and burn/blacken. but
the loaf itself and the sauce on the loaf will be fine ...actually it's quite
good ^^ I love the aroma it gives off even if the stuff that runs off get burnt
^^;
Meatloaf sauce:
1/2 - 1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
a bit of cilantro, oregano, thyme, rosemary, lemon peel
salt and pepper to taste
Prosciutto wrapped Asparagus:
Equal amounts of asparagus and prosciutto (which is a paper-thin sliced meat
that's also got a smoky flavor)
olive oil
pepper and sea salt (optional)
Preheat oven at 450
Clean and trim asparagus and carefully remove the slice of prosciutto and wrap
them around asparagus. Place them on a cooking sheet that has tin foil placed
and secured on it's surface. Drizzle a little olive oil over the wrapped asparagus,
just enough to give a light coating. You may or may not add salt/pepper, I found
that the prosciutto has a somewhat salty/smoky taste already, but pepper is
a good adding if ya want to lay off the salty and add more savory. Now you leave
it in the oven to bake for 5 minutes. Take it out after that and give it a little
shake or or just turn over the wraps to make sure it gets cooked evenly (just
be careful, the sheet is really hot, mine actually bended for a bit till cooled).
Put back into the oven for another 5 minutes or until the prosciutto is crispy
or the asparagus is tender. Serve almost immediately. Very tasty and is actually
healthy. Total time may take 15-20 minutes at most.
Some tips:
Make sure to properly blot water off the asparagus and that they are crisp and
fresh and should have a good green coloring, not soggy and kind of not fresh,
lol To tell if it's at least fresh enough it should give a nice little snap
when ya break them apart. You may also use baby white asparagus instead of the
greens.
Avocado Cucumber salad:
1 large Avocado
1 large cucumber
2 medium tomatoes (or one large)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 lemon
salt/pepper to taste
optional seasoning: ground/crushed rosemary, thyme, cilantro, oregano
Slice and take the seeds out of the cucumber and tomatoes. Dice them. Slice the Avocado around, then, pop out the big seed. Peel off the skin and dice the flesh. Don't need to finely chop, just decent size dices. Immediately slice the lemon and squeeze half of the lemon's juice over the salad mixture, add the olive oil and whatever seasoning you wish to add and lightly toss. Should be enough for 1-3 depending on preferred portions. The lemon juice keeps the Avocado from browning as well as give it a tangy flavor, you can add the other half of the lemon's juice if ya want more tang or save it for later.