Spinach Salad and Poppy Seed Dressing

Spinach Salad and Poppy Seed Dressing

This is a simple salad but it tastes fantastic due to the homemade dressing.  I think all salads taste about a million times better when paired with a from scratch dressing.  Adjust the amount of each of the salad ingredients to fit the number of people you are serving and your taste preferences.

Salad
Baby Spinach
Spring Mix
Romaine
(or any combo of greens)
Crumbled Feta
Craisins
Toasted Almond Slices
Sliced Red Onion
Bacon Bits

Dressing
3/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups oil (Olive or Vegetable)
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
2 tsp poppy seeds

For the dressing: Combine the sugar, mustard, salt and poppy seeds in a blend and mix/pulse to combine.  Add the red wine vinegar and blend until well combined.  Add oil and continue to mix for about 15 seconds.  Toss into the salad and serve immediately. 

*This makes a lot of dressing, which can be stored in a mason jar or a dressing container for a few weeks in the fridge.

Grandma Ulmer's Sugar Cookies

Grandma Ulmer’s Sugar Cookies

1 ½ c. powdered sugar

1 c. butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp almond flavor

2 ½ c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tarter

½ tsp salt

Mix together the sugar, butter, egg vanilla and almond flavor.

Combine the dry ingredients. 

Add the dry to the sugar mixture and mix well.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Roll out dough and cut out desired shapes.

Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Recipe Source: Lillian Ulmer, of course!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling and White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Butter Cream Frostin

What a mouthful that title is!  But my oh my were these great cupcakes.  They were a specific request from my sister Kahly for her birthday and they didn't disappoint.  Here's how they came together.

I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe from Annie's Eats for the chocolate cupcakes. 

The Raspberry Filling recipe was as follows:

1 pkg frozen raspberries, thawed*

1/3 cup sugar

1 TB lemon juice

1 TB cornstarch

2 TB cold water

Heat first three ingredients together in a sauce pan until sugar is dissolved and mixture is simmering.  Then stir the cold water and cornstarch together in a small bowl.  When well combined, stir slowly in the simmering berry mixture and continue to cook until thickened.  Pour into a bowl and cover and refrigerate until completely cooled.  Pipe into cupcakes or use as a filling for a layer cake.

*You can use fresh or frozen.  You can also substitute any type of berry or fruit.

The frosting was my own concoction as well.

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup white granulated sugar

3/4 cup of egg whites

Pinch of Salt

1 pound of butter (2 cups)

8 oz white chocolate

1 tsp vanilla

Melt white chocolate in double boiler or microwave and set aside to cool.

Put egg whites, salt and sugar into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (160 degrees).

Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on medium high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 8 minutes.

Switch to the paddle attachment (if using a Bosch mixer stick with the whisk attachments). With mixer on medium-low, add butter one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes.

Reduce speed to low; add vanilla extract, melted and cooled chocolate and then continue beating 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Store in the refrigerator for up to three days or in the freezer for 2 months.  Bring to room temp and beat with paddle on low until light and fluffy.

Makes enough to generously frost 24+ regular sized cupcakes.

Happy Birthday Kahly!  I love you!!!

Chocolate Beet Cake with Beet Frosting

I made this recipe from Joy the Baker a couple days ago.  I had some beets from the bountiful basket I ordered and having no other need for beets, set out to make something sweet with them.  They turned out FABULOUS.  I couldn't taste any beet flavor, but there were definitely quite a bit of beets in the recipe, so I can tell myself they were semi-healthy.  The kids loved them too.  I liked them so much, that this may be one of my new go to chocolate cake recipes.  Not too sweet, very chocolatey, moist and delicious.
Only thing I did different was to purree the beets in the frosting recipe so they weren't so chunky.  The frosting was firm enough to pipe.

Carrot Cake Review

I made this Carrot Cake from Mel's Kitchen Cafe last week.  The recipe is VERY similar to the one of my Grandma's with the only big differences being the decrease in the amount of spices called for.  It was a good cake, but still a little too airy for me and since the spices were decreased both DJ and I agreed that it lacked a little bit in the flavor department.  I'll keep looking!  

French Bread Rolls

I made these French Bread Rolls from Mel's Kitchen Cafe tonight to go with her Sloppy Joe's.  I wasn't sure what to expect since I'd only ever made dinner rolls.  I guess they were pretty similar to basic dinner rolls, but the texture was a bit different.  They didn't have a crispy crust like I thought they might, but they were good regardless.  I think they are best served as buns, so with hamburgers or sloppy joes or BBQ chicken sandwiches, and not so much as a stand alone roll.  Although, they would be good as that too. :) 

Carrot Cake Hunt

My birthday is in a couple weeks and I've decided I want to make my own cake this year.  I'm a cake snob, what can I say?  My all time favorite type of cake is carrot cake, and it's traditionally not the flavor of cake anyone else jumps up and down for, so I have to take advantage of my birthday to put it at the top of the priority list.  So I'm on the hunt for the BEST carrot cake recipe I can find.

I made one of my Grandma's recipes first and it was good, but not "it".  Tonight I made another variation from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.  Again, it was good, but the texture wasn't quite spot on for me. It was a bit too airy for my personal tastes.  So far most of the recipes I've looked at are VERY similar in ingredients and quantities, which is unusual. I will need to branch out from my normal go-to websites to try and find something totally different.

In the mean time, carrot cakes will make repeated appearances at my husband's work as I try to pawn off mass quantities of cake over the next two weeks.  I'll probably be so sick of carrot cake by the time my birthday is here that I'll end up making vanilla instead. :)

Whole Grain Banana Muffins

I was looking for a healthier banana muffin for a snack.  I tried these Whole Grain Banana Muffins from Our Best Bites.  I didn't add the pecans or brown sugar to the tops.  They were sweet enough without the brown sugar topping and were really tasty for a healthy muffin. I loved that there was only 1/4 cup of butter in the recipe and that you can sub some honey.  The kids chowed down on them, and gave them a thumbs up. They are a keeper!

Soft Caramels

Soft Caramels

2 cups sugar
2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup white caro syrup
1 cube butter
1 cups, coarsely chopped (optional)

Mix sugar, syrup and butter and one cup of cream, boil to soft ball temp/stage.  Then add the other cup of cream and cook to hard ball temp/stage.  If you like a little softer caramel, cook to only a firm ball temp/stage. Add nuts, optional.  Pour into a buttered dish until they are cool (ok to put in fridge).  Then cut into squares and wrap into wax paper.

Recipe Source: Lillian Ulmer

Spanish Peanut Brittle

Seriously the best peanut brittle out there.  You have to follow the recipe to a "T" though, or it won't be nearly as good.  Try this, you won't ever want another kind of peanut brittle.

Spanish Peanut Brittle

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup white caro syrup

1/2 cup water - scant

pinch salt

1 1/2 cups raw Spanish peanuts

1 3/4 tsp baking soda

3 TB butter - soft

In a heavy saucepan and with a wooden spoon, mix together the sugar, salt, caro syrup and water.  Turn to high heat and stir until sugar dissolves.  Cook, no need to stir, until the syrup spins a thread.  Butter a cookie sheet.  

Mix your softened butter and baking and soda well (make sure this is ready to go prior to syrup spinning a thread).  Set aside.

Once syrup spins a thread, add the peanuts and continue cooking and stirring until the peanuts start "popping" open.  Cook just until tan, don't let it get too dark.

Remove from the and add soda/butter mixture.  Fold it in quickly and only stir until butter is melted.  Quickly pour onto a cookie sheet.  DO NOT SPREAD, DO NOT TOUCH PAN, DO NOT BUMP.  Just let the candy sit untouched until cool and then break into pieces.  PURE HEAVEN.

Recipe Source: Lillian Ulmer

Grandma's Whole Wheat Bread

This wheat bread recipe is one that my Grandma Ulmer has used through the ages.  It's her favorite and comes from a super old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  I'm going to make it for the first time today and will probably test the ratio of white to wheat flour over subsequent bread makings. 

Grandma's Whole Wheat Bread

Makes 2 - 9 1/2 x 5" loaves or 3 8x4" loaves

1 package active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110 degrees)

2 TB granulated sugar

2 tsp salt

4 cups sifted enriched white flour

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 TB shortening

4 cups whole wheat flour

Soften (proof) yeast in the 2 cups of warm water, about 10 minutes.  Add 2 TB granulated sugar, salt and 4 cups of white flour to the yeast/water.  Beat until mixture is smooth.  Let the dough sit in a warm place (82 degrees) until it is light and bubbly, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine the 1/2 cup hot water with the brown sugar and shortening.  Stir and cool to lukewarm.  Add to the yeast-flour mixture after it's light and bubbly.  Now add 4 cups of wheat flour and mix until smooth.  Knead until smooth by hand or in your stand mixture.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn over to grease surface.  Cover and let rise in warm place till double. Knead down the dough.  Cut dough into equal sizes, depending on the loaf pans you're using (2-9x5 or 3 8x4).  Shape each portion into a ball and cover and let rest about 10 minutes.  Roll to rectangle.  Break bubbles in the surface.  Roll dough towards you. Seal after each roll with the heel of hand.  Seal the end of the rolls by folding under the dough.  Place dough in lightly greased pan.  Cover and let double in size.

Bake bread in a 375 degree oven for 50 minutes.

Recipe Source: Lillian Ulmer/Better Homes and Gardens

Rolls

I never can remember where I got a recipe several months after the fact.  I need to do a better job of documenting the good, and the not so good, here on my blog so that I can keep track.  I made some dinner rolls months ago and they were delicious, and I went to try and find which recipe it was and I took me 20 minutes of searching.  So I'm documenting this deliciousness this time.

The rolls come from Brown Eyed Baker, they are her Sweet Dinner Rolls and they are VERY good.  I'm going to make them again for Ethan and Addison's birthday, since they requested rolls for dinner.  Nothing else, just rolls.  Actually, Ethan requested rolls AND bacon.  Strange children of mine...

Poppy Seed Cake

Poppy Seed Cake

Cake:

3 eggs

1 1/8 cup oil

2 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup milk

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt (scant)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp almond flavor (I'm assuming extract)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp butter extract

1 1/2 TB poppy seeds

Glaze:

3/4 - 1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp of each: butter extract, almond extract, vanilla extract

Milk

For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two regular size loaf pans, or 6 tiny ones.  Beat together oil, eggs, sugar and milk.  Add flour, baking powder and salt.  Add flavoring and poppy seeds, stir until fully incorporated.  Pour into prepared pans and bake 45 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out clean.  Remove from the pans while still warm and drizzle glaze over each.

For the glaze: Blend together all the ingredients and add enough milk to make thin for glazing.

Recipe Source: Lillian Ulmer/Dorothy