This is a great alternative to maple syrup, and is made of real food. It is delicious, inexpensive, and quick to make. This amount costs me somewhere in the range of $3.00 (in contrast, maple syrup costs me about $13-20 for the same amount), is enough for about 20 people to eat a generous pancake breakfast at least twice, and stores well in the refrigerator. It is far better than the fake maple syrup, though it doesn't taste like maple at all, of course. It tastes a bit like caramel, and is lovely. Because of the butter in the syrup, you can skip butter on the pancakes or waffles, too. If you prefer, you can use salted butter for this.

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
1 teaspoon baking soda

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. When it is melted, add sugar and buttermilk, stirring to dissolve completely.

Bring to a low boil and cook for one minute. Turn off heat and stir in vanilla.

Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda. It will foam/bubble up, and needs to be stirred down.

Serve over pancakes, waffles, doughnuts, sneak from a spoon.

Basic White Sandwich Bread

This is something we make in our bread machine at least once daily. It is super easy to do, slices well, and makes amazing toast. It is really a loose recipe, more of a guideline. You can make this on the dough cycle to make rolls, or buns, whatever you like.

4 cups bread flour, divided (our bread machine can be finicky, so I put half the flour in the bottom, the rest of the ingredients, and half on top, so it mixes properly. Your mileage may vary.)
2 tablespoons butter/oil/other fat (we use a light oil or solid fat, depending on what we have, fasting schedules, and price)
2 tablespoons sugar/sweetener (again, sometimes we use granulated sugar, sometimes honey or molasses)
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups water/milk/beer/liquid (the milk can reduce the height because of the additional fat, but it makes a tender loaf)

Put all ingredients in bread machine, run on a 2 pound loaf cycle with dark crust.

Prize Winning Roasted Tomato Salsa

This is the recipe I used when I won at our county fair's salsa showdown. Well, sort of. I made it a little less spicy, just in case the judges couldn't handle the heat. Instead of the two jalapeños and four serranos, I used three jalapeños and one serrano. You can do the same if you want it a little more mild. Or use four jalapeños and no serranos. But the serranos are really good in this.

15 roma tomatoes (about 3 pounds)
6 large cloves garlic, unpeeled
4 serrano peppers
2 jalapeño peppers
1 large onion (or two small onions), peeled and sliced in half, lengthwise
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
1 large bunch cilantro
juice of 2 small or 1 large lime, or to taste

If you can roast your vegetables over a flame, so much the better, but usually I use the broiler and a dry skillet. Place tomatoes on a jelly roll pan and broil for about 7 minutes on high. The skin will blacken and blister when it is ready, but the flesh will still be soft and red. Turn over and roast the other side for 6 - 7 minutes. You may need to roast a little longer or a little less, so stay nearby and check on your tomatoes. Let rest while you prepare the onion, cilantro, and lime juice (see below), then peel and core, saving all flesh and juices.

On a dry skillet, place the unpeeled garlic, the whole peppers, and the onion, cut side down, and heat over medium-high heat, turning over as the skins and surfaces blacken, about 7 - 10 minutes. Remove the vegetables as they are roasted.

Peel the garlic and place in a food processor or mortar and pestle or molcajete with the salt and grind until a paste begins to form. Remove the stems from the peppers and add, then grind those up, being careful to make sure that the skins are cut and the pieces are small. Add the tomatoes, one at a time, including all juices, and pulse or grind, the break into small pieces. Pour into a bowl.

Finely chop the cilantro and onion and stir into the salsa, along with the lime juice. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt, if necessary.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 12:33 PM