Polenta Cakes

*If you haven't entered my giveaway, click here to do that now.  Ends. Nov 2.*

So, none of you showed up to help me out with all my extra polenta.  What's up with that?  I was forced to try to be creative, imaginative even.  I'm from the south ya know, so that's means "why don't we just fry that!".  I guess.  

 I just took that polenta (that I prepared in my last post) out of the fridge and sliced it up while it was cold and cut it into circles.  Sounded good in theory, but it didn't really have much holding power.  

 yeah I'm talking to you there in the middle

I ended up mixing some up with an egg and flour to kinda help bind it a bit.  That seemed to work a lot better.  I wish I could give you amounts, but I'm not that precise.  I'd say maybe about 1 to 1 1/2 cups polenta, 1 egg, and maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cups flour.   Just fried it in a well oiled skillet over med heat till it's golden on both sides, and there ya go! 

I hope all of you and your families have a fun and safe Halloween, fall festival, or harvest.  Whatever it is you do to get strangers to give you candy!

Herbed Polenta, Rolls, and a Giveaway

I thought it was a stroke of good timing that I was contacted by a representative of CSN Stores to be able to offer you a giveaway, as this is my 300th post!  Woohoo, yay and all that!  I never really knew when I started this little blog that I would enjoy it so much and meet so many nice people along the way.  And getting to work with CSN Stores is a perk I never even dreamed of, and I never cease to be amazed at the variety of products they offer from  kitchen bar stools  to pet supplies.  I will fill you in on the giveaway details after I talk about the food :)

 I ran across the recipe for these rolls at a forum called Cuisine at Home, and was intrigued by them since they contain a custard mix.  They called them Custard Rich Rolls, which I thought was a little bit of an odd name, but whatever.  I liked them.  I liked the bakery-like smell and sweetness that the custard mix added to them.  They were pretty darned easy, only one rising, and I'd definitely try them again.  My husband found them too dense.  I tried to make them some little dunce caps for them but it just didn't quite work out.  

Here's the recipe:

Custard Rich Rolls

1 Cup Warm Milk 80F
1/4 Cup Water, warm 80F
1/4 Cup Butter Softened
1 Egg
1 tsp Salt
4 Cups Bread Flour
1/4 Cup Vanilla Pudding mix or egg custard or flan mix (I used the flan mix)
1 Tbl Sugar
1 Tbl Instant Dry Yeast

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. After five minutes of mixing add 1 to 2 Tbl Water or Flour(whichever is needed).
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Form into rolls, place into pan and cover. Let rise in a warm place. About 1 hour.
Bake in a pre-heated oven 350F for 20 -25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack for five minutes. Coat top with melted butter.

Tonight I also tried my hand at making Herbed Polenta that I saw at Girlichef.  The funny thing about cooking the polenta is that no matter how low I turned the heat and how much I stirred, it kept doing this volcanic thing right in the middle and spewing halfway up to the ceiling.  And onto my hand. 

 But it was worth it, just perfect with the brisket on top...yum!  Only bad part is that it made a massive amount and I'm the only one who likes it.  Anyone want to come over for polenta tomorrow??

Here's the recipe from Girlichef:

 9 c. water
1 Tbs. salt
2½ c. yellow cornmeal or polenta
1½ c. finely grated parmesan cheese
1½ c. whole milk  (I only used about 1/2 cup)
10 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
~½ c. chopped mixed herbs...I used flat leaf parsley, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, fresh chives
¾ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Bring water to a boil in large, heavy pot. Add salt. Gradually whisk in cornmeal. Reduce heat to low, stirring often, until mixture thickens and cornmeal is tender, ~15 mins. Remove from heat, add cheese, milk, butter, herbs and pepper. Stir until butter and cheese melt. Serve.

So I'll plan to leave the giveaway open through Tuesday Nov. 2nd 10pm...Arizona time, whatever that is.  What's up for grabs is a $60 gift code to any of CSN's stores.  

To enter, just leave a comment of any sort and you're in (preferably a nice comment, if you tell me I suck it will make me cry). (I believe CSN ships to US and Canada)

For a second entry, hop on over to my Facebook page and click that "like" button.  If you do, or you already have, please let me know in a separate comment.

For a third entry, and this is a tricky one, if you can remember what I said many months ago (maybe years) that my favorite song is, you'll get an extra entry. (make this a separate comment too) 

Be sure I'm able to reach you in some way!

I'll plan to announce the winner on November the 3rd and contact you by email to let you know.

Thanks for playing!   

 

 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Chances are you have everything you need to make this; if you've got some  berries in the freezer, you're good to go.  

And you definitely should make this!  It's delicious and light and moist.  If you're a coffee person it would be great with your first cup of coffee in the morning.  For me, it was great with my Diet Coke :)

It disappeared in a flash!

Here's the recipe I found at Mommy's Kitchen.  I just used a bundt pan instead...if you do just be sure to sprinkle the crumb topping in before the batter.  

2 - cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 - cups sugar
1/2 - cups cold butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 - cup milk
2 - egg yolks
2 - egg whites, beaten
2 cups fresh blueberries or
frozen (if using frozen don't thaw)

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and sugar. Cut the butter into pieces using a knife and add to the flour mixture. Blend using a fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture to use as a topping. Add the baking powder, milk, egg yolks and mix well and set aside. Beat the egg whites til soft peaks form. Add the milk and egg mixture into the flour and mix. Fold the egg whites into the batter and lightly mix everything together. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle with blueberries and and add the reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350 for 30-35 min or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.
 

Sunday Night Sliders and the Winner

That post title didn't sound obscene, did it?  Hope not, this is a family blog, gosh!

Just an easy Sunday night meal of some chicken sliders with bacon and melted cheddar...yum!

 Napoleon, give me some of your tots!

And now for the notepad giveaway winner:

Alexis of Running Away, I'll help you pack was the randomly chosen winner.

Rintoo says hooray for the winner!

 

Fall On A Plate

Perhaps I should have said "autumn" on a plate.  It sounds as if I'm advising you to trip on dinnerware.  

But you should fall all over yourself to make this dinner...pronto!  It's delish! I knew when I first saw this at My Tasty Treasures I'd be wanting to try it.  Just be sure you have plenty of hungry people to share it with because it makes a lot and the left overs are a little mushy.  

Served up with a lovely roasted acorn squash, along with the temperatures finally dropping a bit, this meal let me know that autumn, or fall, is actually finally here.  

 Here's Donna's recipe:

Roast Kielbasa Supper 

 Ingredients 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

2 pounds baby red-skinned potatoes, halved or quartered, depending on how large they are
4 large onions, quartered with root end attached
2 pounds kielbasa, cut into 2-inch pieces( I recommend one inch pieces)
4 Gala or Honeycrisp apples, cut into wedges ( I used 3 and I recommend thin wedges.)
Honey

Directions 

Preheat oven to 425˚F.
In a large, shallow roasting pan, drizzle potatoes and onions with EVOO, salt and pepper. Roast 40 minutes.

Drizzle the apples with honey, EVOO, salt and pepper; toss and set aside

Add kielbasa 10 minutes into cooking time.

Add apples to potatoes and onions in the last 20 minutes of cooking time.

To serve, arrange kielbasa, apples, onions and potatoes on dinner plates and garnish with the pan juices.

Halloween Cupcakes and a Bonus

 Cupcakes made from a box mix...revolutionary I know.  That Betty chick knows what she's doing, what can I say.  But mostly I made the cupcakes as a vehicle for the cute liners and I wanted to try what I saw touted as "The Best Frosting I Ever Had" on Tasty Kitchen. 

As I started making it I realized..."Hey, I'm making a roux!"  Fortunately it turns out tasting way more like frosting than gravy.

Best ever?  I'm not sure about that. It's definitely got a light fluffy thing going on.  Light and fluffy has it's place from time to time, but for me nothing beats a good old buttercream. 

Here's the recipe from Tasty Kitchen if you're interested.

 5 Tablespoons Flour
1 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Butter
1 cup Granulated Sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

 In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. (If I’m in a hurry, I place the saucepan over ice in the sink for about 10 minutes or so until the mixture cools.) It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.

While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left. Then add the completely cooled milk/flour/vanilla mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. If it looks separated, you haven’t beaten it enough! Beat it until it all combines and resembles whipped cream.

Now the bonus...

I'm not sure if I've told you lately, but I really love you guys.  And I also really love notepads.  I just can't get enough of 'em.  Do I ever remember to use them when I need paper?  Not a lot, but I love them just the same.  So I was in The Dollar Tree some high dollar paper product store the other day admiring their selection of notepads.  And somehow my love for you and my love for notepads just made sense.  It all came together like some cosmic truth.  Okay, I'm stopping now.   So here's the loot....

Just a few little notepads, pens, some napkins that might  be nice to line your bread basket, and some holiday themed cooking magazines.  I'll leave this giveaway open through midnight this Friday night (the 22nd).  US only please, since I'm cheap.  To let me know you're interested just leave the codeword "zombie" somewhere in your comment.

Meatball Soup and Stuffed Shells

It's a two-for-one kind of day today.  

I was wondering the other day if anyone has ever been served with divorce papers for making soup too often.  But when it comes to a bowl full of warm steamy yumminess, I just can't help myself.

 

This recipe called for pasta rings, and I wished I'd had some. They would have been really cute in there.  But the plain old macaroni tasted just great.  

Here's the recipe that I found at An Edible Mosaic:

 

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef

1/2 TB Worcestershire sauce

1 egg

1 egg white

3/4 c bread crumbs

1/2 oz fresh grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish if desired

4 TB minced fresh parsley, divided

8 oz pasta (I used O-shaped pasta)

2 TB olive oil

4 medium-large carrots, peeled and diced

3 large stalks celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

5 c water

1 (28 oz) can diced tomato (with juices)

6 oz tomato paste (I forgot this)

2 bay leaves

2 tsp dried Italian herb spice mix

2 beef bouillon cubes

Salt and pepper

In a large bowl, combine the beef, Worcestershire sauce, egg, egg white, breadcrumbs, 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese, 2 TB parsley, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix everything together, being careful not to overmix. Form the meat mixture into small balls, about 1/2 TB each (I get about 60 balls), and set aside.

Cook the pasta to al dente according to the package directions, drain, and set aside.

In a 5-quart pot with a lid, heat the olive oil on medium heat; add the carrots, celery, and onion and sauté until starting to soften (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and sauté another minute. Add the water, diced tomato, tomato paste, bay leaves, dried Italian herbs, bouillon cubes, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cover the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring up to a boil; turn down to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes (covered), stirring occasionally.

Add the meatballs, bring the soup back up to a simmer, then simmer for 10 minutes (with the lid slightly ajar). Turn off the heat and stir in the noodles and the remaining 2 TB parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese if desired.
 

I also recently made stuffed shells from the recipe I found at The Pioneer Woman.  (just click that link if you want the recipe)

I liked these, but I think I was the only one who really did, judging by how many days I took them to work for lunch.