Popovers

My husband and I went to a restaurant several years ago.  It was a restaurant we had never tried before.  We had an entertainment book with buy one meal get the second free.  It was a nice, sort of elegant restaurant and we were excited to try it.  The waiter came with a bread basket and we uncovered the warm contents.  They looked to be little football shaped burnt looking little loaves of bread served with a whipped butter on the side.  Yuk!  Why did we waste our money coming to this restaurant!  We were hungry, so we decided to pick at the bread a bit to tide us over until the meal came.  Hopefully that would be good!  Spread a little of the softened butter on the burnt bread to make it swallowable.  Bite, mmmm...is this ever good.  Not at all like they looked.   Those "burnt looking" little loaves were popovers and they were served with honey butter!  They were delicious and were we ever glad we had tried them!  We ended up eating all 4 of them and enjoyed every bite!  They weren't burnt at all.  I don't remember what the entree we had that night was, but I do remember those little popovers.  I have wanted to make them ever since.  I have seen recipes and have intended on making them, but somehow never did.  Maybe I was afraid.  I don't know why.  Maybe I thought they would be too hard or complicated or that they wouldn't turn out.  I even bought a popover pan at a garage sale that sat here for a few years.  So today, I blew the dust off  of the popover pan and actually made them.  They turned out great!  I even made honey butter to spread on them.  I don't know why I waited so long.  They were very simple and delicious.

Popovers with Honey Butter

1 1/2 t. shortening

2 beaten eggs

1 cup milk

1 T. cooking oil

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 t. salt

Grease popover pan or six 6-ounce custard cups with 1/4 t. of the shortening for each cup.  Place custard cups or popover pan on 15x 10 inch baking pan or baking sheet and place in oven; preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Meanwhile, in a 4-cup liquid measure or mixing bowl combine eggs, milk, and oil.  Add flour and salt.  Beat with electric mixer until smooth.  Remove pan from oven.  Fill hot custard cups or popover pan half full.  Return to oven.  Bake 450 degrees for 20 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees 15 to 20 minutes more or until very firm.  (If popovers brown too quickly, turn oven off and finish baking in the cooling oven till very firm.)  A few minutes before removing from oven, prick each popover with a fork to let steam escape.  Serve hot.  Makes 6

Honey Butter

1/4 cup softened butter

1 T. honey or to taste

Beat butter and honey together to combine.  Serve with popovers.

***You could also blend butter with say orange marmalade in place of honey to serve with popovers.

Homemade Smart Balance

There is a lot of talk these days about saturated fat and the health risks involved with them.  Butter contains saturated fat.  I however LOVE butter!  I will not give it up.  I grew up on butter.  I don't know of anyone who does not love butter and things made with it. I have always felt it was healthier to eat butter than margarine.  I have been proved right in that thinking (at least for the current moment).  There is also much talk about the health benefits of consuming healthy fats and the benefits you get for your heart with the types of fats contained in olive oil.  I like olive oil too but don't enjoy it as much in certain things as I do butter.  I want health benefits, but also want butter flavor.  I have come up with a solution that satisfies my taste buds as well as benefits my heart.  This is stored in the refrigerator and stays spreadable even when cold.

Homemade Smart Balance


1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c. olive oil

Cream butter with electric mixer; with beaters running, drizzle in olive oil.  Beat until well blended.  Remove to
covered container and store in refrigerator.

Use as you would butter.  Use on vegetables, toast, fish anywhere you would spread butter.  I have never used this for baking so I can't guarantee the results in say cookies, but it has worked fine in cakes or biscuits and things like that.

Kathleen's Crunchy Granola

Preheat oven to 275I try to make healthy recipes most of the time.  I choose ingredients that have known health benefits to compose my meals.  Oats are known to lower cholesterol as well as being high in soluble fiber which is beneficial in many ways.  Granola therefore is quite a healthy breakfast or snack if you do not add too much fat or sugar to it.  This has no added fat other than that naturally occurring in the oats and nuts if you add them. Sugar on the other hand is a little high in this recipe, but if you would usually add sugar to your cereal or snack anyway, this may be a healthier alternative than something else you might choose.  The recipe comes from a cookbook by Kathleen Daelmans.  I usually don't add the dried fruit as I like it best with out.  Hickory nuts are the best in this, but if you don't have them, pecans or walnuts are good too.

Kathleen's Crunchy Granola


1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 c. water
4 t. pure vanilla
1 t. salt
8 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1-2 c. chopped nuts (hickory, pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts etc.or combination)
dried fruit, optional  (raisins, dried cherries, cranberries etc.)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Combine sugar and water in 4 c. glass bowl or cup.  Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Add salt and vanilla.  Pour over oats and nuts.  Bake on two parchment lined jellyroll pans for 45-60 minutes stirring every 15 minutes until lightly browned.  If using fruit, add when it comes out of the oven.
Cool thoroughly and store in airtight container.  I usually store in gallon-sized ziploc bag in freezer.  Eat with milk or yogurt or just the way it is!

Easy Gyros at Home

I remember the first time I had a gyro.  It was at a food fair with my Mom and I was in my young twenties.  It was a love affair from the start!  Back then (about 30 years ago) they weren't quite as easy to find, at least in our area.  It was always a treat when we would find a restaurant that actually served them.  Now Greek restaurants are more widespread and we have a few in our area.  We still love to go out for the occasional gyro, but I have found a recipe where I can actually make them at home.  I have combined three different recipes that I came upon to make my own version.  Here it is.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  It is also a quite easy recipe.

1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
2 T. dried oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt I don’t usually use quite this much, so use your judgment
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
Return the onion to the food processor and add the meat, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper and process until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Tzatziki Sauce

1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt or low fat sour cream
1/4 cup cucumber, grated
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Stir together the above ingredients and let sit 30 minutes or so to blend flavors.

Bread Machine Peach Jam

Jam is usually one of those seasonal things made only during the fruit harvest.  If you don't set yourself up by making lots during the summer you may have to resort to store bought varieties in the middle of winter which pale by comparison to the homemade varieties.  I love gadgets and have had a bread machine for several years. I had been using it to make homemade breads, of course, cinnamon rolls, foccaccia bread, homemade sandwich buns and the like for many years.  One day my old bread machine gave out and I needed to get another.  There were several varieties now.  Bread machines had come along way since the first ones that came out, and the price went down considerably from the first one I invested in.  As I shopped, I noticed the different cycles that the new ones had and thought to myself, I don't need all these features...jam cycle, quick bread cycle, cake cycle.  I will never use these cycles, but the price was right and even though I would never use these other features, well the machine came with them so I guess I just had to take them along with it.  A few years went by and I ignored these special features.  I am not sure how I came to pay attention to the fact that I could use these other features, it just happened.  I think it was the fact that I had lots, I mean lots of cherries in the freezer from our tree in the back yard.  I love cherry jam and just thought to use the machine to make the jam instead of standing, cooking and stirring at the stove.  Am I ever glad I did!  It has been a couple of years now and I make jam in it all the time.  There are many varieties to be made in it.  Here is one that I use frequently...the basic recipe:  Play around with fruit combinations to see what you like.

Peach or Cherry Bread Machine Jam


1 cup sugar
1 T. low-sugar fruit pectin (Sure-Jell)
2 c. thawed frozen peaches or cherries
2 t. lemon juice

Chop the peaches or cherries a bit.  Put in bread machine pan in the order listed.  Select jam cycle.  When jam is complete pour into clean jars.  Let jam stand on counter for 24 hours before refrigerating.  This may be frozen or used within a few weeks.

I have made this with peaches, cherries, cherries/raspberries, cherries/rhubarb, pears, raspberries/peaches.  You can also add ingredients like vanilla or ginger to spice it up a bit or try cinnamon etc.

Baked Tilapia

This is another recipe that my daughter Kiley shared with me.  It is simple yet delicious and makes the house smell wonderful.  The beauty of this is that if you have not planned ahead or are in a rush you can just use the frozen fillets. I paired this with Crockpot Creamy Ranch New Potatoes.  You can use different varieties of fish with good results, just keep in mind the thickness of the fillets in regards to baking times.  Tilapia is a thinner fillet and baking times are according to that thickness.

Baked Tilapia

16 oz. tilapia fillets
4 T. butter**
2 cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 t. dillweed
1/8 t. paprika

Spray 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray.  In microwave safe dish melt butter and add the seasoning ingredients.  Lay fish in pan and top with butter mixture.  Bake 350 degrees 12-15 minutes.   If frozen bake 25 minutes.

To cut calories and fat I used only 2 T. butter. 

Rhubarb Muffins

I know it isn't rhubarb season but I have a dilemma.  I have leftover whey from my ricotta making that I need to use and I also have some rhubarb in my freezer to use before rhubarb season is upon us again. I thought I would solve these two problems (problems?) by making these yummy muffins.  Rhubarb paired with nutmeg, crunchy nuts...warm from the oven...mmmm.  If you have rhubarb in your freezer, here is a good way to use it. This recipe is also low in fat.  If using frozen rhubarb, do not thaw as it will become mushy.  You can use the whey from the ricotta making in place of the buttermilk or use sour milk.

Rhubarb Muffins

2 1/2 c. flour (I use whole wheat)

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. buttermilk

1 egg

2 T. oil

1 t. vanilla

2 c. diced rhubarb

1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Topping:

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray 12 muffin cups. In bowl, combine first five ingredients; set aside. Beat egg; add oil and whisk til thickened, whisk in brown sugar, then buttermilk and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients, then rhubarb and nuts.  Spoon into muffin pan.  In small bowl cut butter into 1/2 c. sugar and sprinkle over each muffin.  Bake 20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.