Yams with a sauce

This past Thanksgiving part of our donation to the dinner was yams.  And the wife did this little guys.  The wife got the recipe from the Foodnetwork.  and Paula Dean as the cook.  Being the kind of guy that I am, and the guy making the sauce,  I had to change something on the recipe.  I took the booze out. Two reasons, one I don't drink and the grandkids.  I know the deal you cook all the booze out and you are left with the flavor only.  Oh the other reason was I didn't have any Jack Daniels for the sauce.  

This recipe is scaled for 4 serving and it takes about 2 hours or less.  

It's easy to do,  The hardest part was transporting the dish.  

Anyway,

The INGREDIENTS:

4          large sweet potatoes

3          cups water

1-1/2    cups brown sugar

4          Tbs butter

1          Cinnamon stick

1/4        teasp. nutmeg

1          long strip orange peel 

1/3       cup bourbon,  Best to use Jack Daniels

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400F


2. Wash and dry the sweet potatoes and bake for 1 hour or until potatoes are soft to the touch.  


3. Remove from the oven and let cool and then remove the skin.  Reduce the oven temp to 350F. 


4. While the potatoes are baking, combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened.  


5. Slice the potatoes 1/2 inch thick into a medium casserole dish, Pour syrup over them and return to the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes.  

I've been missing

Yes I know I've been missing,  however,  I've gotten back into my old profession, Photography.  Not full time or anything like that, but trying to learn this new digital photography thing.  And I've been working and developing a client list, and building my stock photo inventory.  So that's where I've been,  out taking pretty pictures and stock piling etc.  I do have a small blog going for the photography if your interested in checking it out   http://photographybymichaellong.blogspot.com/ 

I still plan on keeping up with the food blog and cooking etc.  But starting this new little gig,  is taking a little more time than I expected.  But hey it's fun. So if you don't hear from me for a while, that's what is going on.  

Fast Drop Biscuits

COPYRIGHT 2011 by Michael Long

If you get overwhelmed needing a biscuit with lets say honey, or jam, or your biscuit and gravy fix,  Try this recipe.  it takes longer for the oven to heat up than it does to mix these little guys up. 

Ingredients:

•  2   cups               AP Flour


•  1    Tablespoon     Baking Powder


•  2    tsp            Sugar


•  1/4 tsp             Salt


•  1/2 cup               Melted butter


•  1    cup               Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450F (230 C)


2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder,sugar, and salt.  Stir in butter and milk until    moist.  Drop the biscuits on to a lined baking sheet.  I used tablespoon size for mine. 


3. Bake those puppies until golden brown around the edges.  This will take about 10 minutes or so.  


4. Pull those hot little guys our when done,  dig out the honey and chow down. 

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You'll have about a half an hour on these little guys,  This recipe will make about a dozen biscuits. 

Honey

COPYRIGHT 2011 by Michael Long

Most of us know Honey as a sweet, golden liquid.  In addition to being a great natural sweetener, honey has a bunch of other benefits.  If you have a sore throat, take some honey, it will soothe the throat.  If your diabetic, honey under the tongue will raise your blood sugar and keep you out of trouble. For athletes looking for a natural energy boost before a big game, honey will provide a quick energy in all circumstances.  

Honey can be found in several different forms:

• Comb Honey  is a honey in it's original form; "Honey inside of the honeycomb,  and the beeswax comb is edible!!!!


• Cut Comb  Cut comb honey is liquid honey that has added chunks of the honey comb in the jar or container 


• Liquid Honey  is a honey that is free of visible crystals,  and is extracted from the honey comb by centrifugal force and straining.  Because liquid honey mixes so well into a variety of foods it's especially convenient for cooking and baking.  Most of the honey that is produced here in the United States is sold in the liquid form. 


• Naturally Crystallized Honey  Naturally crystallized honey is honey in which part of the glucose content has spontaneously crystallized.  And it's safe to eat.


• Whipped (or Cremed) Honey, While all honey will crystallize in time,  This honey is brought to market in a crystallized state.  The crystallization is controlled so that, at room temperature, the honey can be spread like butter or jelly.  In many countries around the world, whipped honey is preferred to the liquid form especially at breakfast time.  

Honey in normally bought and sold in one of two ways, by variety and color.  Most consumers whether buying in a supermarket or farmers market will typically by either a blend of pure honeys, the so called Supermarket Store brands or a Clover Honey.

SHARLA's Fruit Pizza

I-phone photo by Michele

I have the best Granddaughter in-law in the world,  This girl can bake, cook, works a full time job, and then comes home and bakes cakes, decorate cakes,  The full show. She commissions out her decorating skills to different clients around the Palm Springs area.  Getting to the recipe and story.  One of the other grandkids had a birthday party the other night,  and of course Grandma and Grandpa were invited.  And Sharla the baker came with this dessert for all of us.  A "Fruit Pizza."  Never heard of such a thing.  Well anyway,  it's great.  (I must have lived a sheltered life)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1     each       sugar cookie dough  (Store bought, Pillsbury, the kind that is rolled up. It's not the pre-cut kind.)


• 2     each       8 oz cream cheese packages


• 1/2  cup         sugar


• 1     tbsp        lemon juice


• fruit of your choice, (strawberries, kiwi, grapes, blackberries, raspberries etc...)


• 1     jar           apricot preservatives 


• 2     tbsp        water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350F with the rack in the middle of the oven.


2. Take a half sheet jelly roll pan and grease or spray the inside of if you have a non-stick, use that.  Take your cookie dough  and press the dough out to fill the sheet.


3. Bake for 10 minutes.


4. In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon juice.  Spread the mix over the cooled cookie crust.


5. Cut up the fruit and arrange like you see in the picture above.  


6. Mix the apricot preservatives with water and drizzle over the top of the pizza. 


7. Keep refrigerated,  after chilling eat that puppy up!!!

My SnickerDoodles

Photography by Michael Long

In all my years,  I've never had a snickerdoodle.  Never, Honest!!!  And today I found out what I have been missing.  I'd heard about girls making them in Home Ed classes,  and the boys going wild over them,  But No, I was out playing hide and sneak with my Chevy and the cops!!!  Should have been chasing the girls and they're cookies.  Anyway, that's another story.  I got an E-mail from Saveur Magazine the other day and they had a recipe on Snickerdoodles so I thought what the heck go for it.  I mentioned it to the wife, "boss, manager, tax consultant, etc..." and she told me that years ago in the home ed. class where they taught cooking or basic cooking, that was one thing the girls had to do was make snickerdoodles and she hadn't had them since.????  Doesn't make a lot of since to me either, but anyway her eye's rolled back and said oh please,  So I pounded my chest and said "yes my dear, I can do that" So I did that!





Anyway, now to the recipe,





INGREDIENTS:

• 3      cups       Flour


• 2      tsp         Cream of Tartar


• 1      tsp         Baking soda


• .25   tsp         Kosher Salt


• 1.75  cups      Sugar


• 16    tbsp       Unsalted Butter, @ Room Temp.


• 5      tsp         ground cinnamon


• 1.5   tsp         vanilla extract


• 2     each       eggs.

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt;  and set that puppy aside.  Using a hand mixer or better yet a stand mixer on medium speed, beat 1.5 cup of sugar and butter together till pale and fluffy. (Don't you just love the fluffy part?) This will take about 2 minutes of your time.  Add 2 tsp of cinnamon and the vanilla; beat for about another minute more.  Add your eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition of egg.  Add the dry ingredients that you sat aside to the mixer,  very slowly, or your going to have stuff everywhere! And don't over mix. If you over mix your going to have cinnamon flavored hockey pucks. Now refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes. 


2. Heat the oven to 375F.  In a separate bowl combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon.  Remove dough from the frig, and using about 1 tbsp measure, spoon out about 48 portions.  I got 46. But anyway, you get the idea.  Take those portions and roll them into little balls and then over to the cinnamon bowl and coat each and everyone of those guys with the sugar/cinn. mix.  Place on a baking sheet lined with Parchment paper, about 2" apart.  Put those little guys in the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes.  What your looking for is some cracking on top of the cookies.  

Transfer to a cooling rack to cool.  and  then get your insulin out and eat till your silly.  

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I'm dedicating this recipe to my Granddaughter, Christina, that's living up in Santa Barbara, CA. And to her roommates. Eat up and enjoy,  Grandpa!

Happy Birthday "Michael's Kitchen"

     On Sept 6, 2009, I gave birth to my blog. I had no idea as to what I was doing or even wanting to do, but like everything else, I grabbed my nose, held my breath and jumped in feet first. And just hoped I didn't hit too many rocks on the way down. And so far it's been a life saver for me.
     From the first post I've learned a lot. Met a lot of wonderful people. And have become very close to many of them. I thank you for that.
     I'm going to be doing a few changes to my blog, First and most important, I'm getting into a DSLR camera shortly. The point and shoot has limited me greatly on the pictures. So with the camera up grade, The pictures will improve and there will be more pictures, hopefully to motivate or excite everyone to do my recipes. That's the goal. To make the recipes easier to understand and follow. Secondly I'm wanting to set up a publishing of the post schedule. And stick to that if at all possible. This way, you know when to expect the recipes, or post. And thirdly, I'm going to have someone else proof read all the posts before I post them for spelling etc.

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     If you all have any comments or questions please feel free to E-mail me. And I'll get back to you ASAP.

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     Again, Thank you to my followers, the people that have signed on to my E-mail list, the people that are on my other E-mail list. To everyone that said hey guy why don't you do a blog... My wife the proof reader. And my kids that say "hey grandpa has a pretty cool blog"

Goldies

Photography by Michael Long

Thumbing through Alice Medrich's book,  "Chewy, Gooey, Crispy Crunchy Cookies"  on page 48,  She wrote about these little guys.  And after making them,  These guys are good.  I did change one thing,  I went from Vanilla Extract to Vanilla Bean.  But I have a big stock of Beans, so it was easy to do.  Plus it makes the cookies look like there is pepper in them. ha! not really, but you do get a bunch of little specks in the cookies.  A good sign of vanilla bean being used.  This makes about 60-70 cookies. 

Indgredients:

• 6.75     oz             AP Flour


• 4.5       Tbs           Cornstarch


• 3          large         eggs


• 6.125   oz              Sugar


• .75       tps            Salt


• 3          ea             Vanilla beans,= (1tablespoon Extract)


• 6          oz             Unsalted Butter (Melted and still warm)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F and position racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven.


2. Combine Flour and Cornstarch in a medium bowl and whisk to incorporate thoroughly.


3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Eggs, Sugar, Salt and Vanilla.  Beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick and pale.  (This will take about 2-3 minutes)  


4. Beat in the melted butter.  


5. Stop the mixer and fold in by hand the Flour mixture (One half at a time)


6. Dough is going to look more line a batter than a dough.


7. Drop rounded teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart on a lined cookie sheet.  Bake until the cookies are deep golden brown around the edges.  (About 16-20 minutes) Remember to rotate the pans front to back and up and down, for even baking. 

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These will keep in an air tight container for at least a week

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1/70 serving or one cookie = 42.08 cal, Total Fat = 2.21g,Cholesterol=14.29mg,Total Carbs=5.05 Sodium=28.28,g, Protein=.57g

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Double Brownie Chocolate Cookie

These little guys are flour-less, with a chocolate chips.  Way over the top.  And they're made in one bowl. And fast!!!  These little guys have to be eaten with Brain freeze milk, since the intensity of the chocolate is so great.  But there's nothing wrong with that. 

I changed the original recipe some,  not a lot,  but some,  in place of the vanilla extract I used 3 vanilla beans,  and I used Ghirardelli cocoa powder.  You can use something else, but I had this on hand,  and I love this chocolate. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups        Powdered sugar


• 2/3 cup      Cocoa Powder


• 1/8 tsp       Salt


• 2-4 eggs     Whites only (@ Room Temperature)


• 1 Tbs         Vanilla extract


• 1-1/2 cup   Chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Gotta preheat the oven to 350F.  But you knew that!


2. Line two baking sheets with either Parchment paper with spray or two Slip-pat mats.


3. In a large bowl add your sugar, cocoa powder and salt, and whisk till completely mixed. 


4. Add your vanilla and two egg whites, to the mix and mix till well incorporated  It's going to start to look like a brownie mix,  if it's too thick add another egg white.  Your looking for a brownie/fudge consistency  to the mix.  If need be add another egg white to get to the right consistency. If you go over, not to worry,  add some more sugar to bring it back.  Just a spoonful at a time.  You'll get there,  Trust me on that!


5. Caution DON'T OVER WORK THE BATTER, just mix till incorporated.


6. Stir in the chocolate chips.  I know your going to think hey, that's too much,  But there no such thing, too many chips. 


7. Scoop the batter out on to your mats about a Tablespoon size.  I over did it on mine.  But I'm into chocolate.


8. leave about a two inch gap between the cookies so that they can spread out.


9. Put those little guys in the oven for about 15 minutes.  You want a slight crust on the bottom. Your oven temp my vary some, so keep an eye on those guys.


10. I rotate my pans so they bake evenly,  But my oven has some hot spots in it. So I have to work mine a little more than some. 


11. When they are done, let them cool to room temp or close too, and get the milk out of the freezer and go for it.  These should last about 3 days in an airtight container.  Here they lasted about 2 days. 

You should be able to get about 30 or so cookies out of this.  

I got this recipe from the internet,  from a blog called "Chocolate and Carrots"  and this lady got it from another blog called "Keep it sweet"

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com

Pie Crust (Pate Brisee)

Need a fast Pie crust at the last minute,  Here is one from "Ratio",  Michael Ruhlman's book on ratio's. page 25.   I use this as my standard go to pie crust.  It's fast and always right on.  The crust is based on a 3-2-1 formula,  3 parts flour 2 parts fat and 1 part water. So if you need two crust, just double it.  This base ratio will make one 9" crust and one top.

Ingredients

• 12 oz AP Flour


• 8 oz Butter or shortening


• 2-4 oz ICE COLD WATER


• 1/2 teaspoon salt

 Instructions

1. Cube the butter/fat, so that it can be incorporated into the flour.


2. Add the flour into a mid-size bowl.  Add your butter and with  your hands begin working the butter into the flour... Until the flour is nice and flaky.  You should have nice pea size chunks.


3. Add your water, Nice and gently and work the water into the dough. 


4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes (This gives the dough a chance to rest.)


5. Flour your board and roll out your dough to the correct size, with about a 1" overhang.