Tea Cakes (Kathleen Ronk)

Mom made these, but not often.  They are made in a Madeleine pan and mom was nice enough to share hers. 

It may not have been heartbreaking for her as I now know why she didn't make them often - the pan is a pain in the neck.  It is aluminum and you brush it with butter to use it, but it still doesn't like to let go of the cookies.  You don't have to wash the pan in between, but the cookies do not look as nicely ridged.  I really like my Fat Daddio's Cake Pans, they offer a Madeleine pan, so I have ordered it to try again.

The recipe calls for 2 tsp lemon rind, but I like to grate the entire lemon skin and use it, even it is more than 2 tsp.

  1 1/4 Cup Cake Flour                                                              1 Tsp Vanilla

  1/2 Tsp Baking Powder                                                            2/3 Cup Sugar

  1/4 Tsp Salt                                                                             2 Tsp Lemon Rind, Finely Grated

  3 Large Eggs                                                                          3/4 Cup Butter

Sift together cake flour, baking powdered and salt.  Set aside.  Beat 3 eggs until light, add 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in 2/3 cup sugar.  Continue beating until volume has increased about 4 times the original.  Fold in lemon rind.  Fold flour mixture into egg mixture.  Stir in 3/4 cup melted butter.  Brush pans with additional melted butter and spoon about 1 tbl batter into each  shell.  Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes.  Sift confectioners sugar over tops.

Lemon Pie - Alda Jane Low

This pie has a rich lemon flavor.  The water seemed a little odd, I am more familiar with using milk or cream, but it tasted quite good.  The recipe calls for a 9 inch deep dish, but a 10 inch pie plate could also be used.  When I made this pie, I enhanced it by putting 1 cup of black raspberries in the bottom of the crust before pouring the pie filling in the crust.  You could also use blueberries, red raspberries or strawberries  Please note - if you do this, you will have leftover batter.

  1/2 Cup Butter                                                                        2 Med Lemons

  3 Cup Granulated Sugar                                                           2/3 Cup Flour

  11 Large Eggs                                                                         1 Cup Cold Water

Prepare a 9 inch deep dish pie crust, set aside.  Cream butter and sugar, set aside.  Beat 8 eggs and 3 egg whites, mix with butter mixtures.  Grate the rinds of the lemons and juice them, mix into batter.  Pour into pie crust and bake in 350 degree oven until  set.

Peach-Butter Syrup

If you look at the end of the flannel cake recipe, you see instruction to use with peach butter syrup.  Well, here it is.  I usually use jam or fruit to top my pancakes - Maple Syrup is last on my list.  This fruity syrup is a great substitute.  The ingredients say to use frozen peaches, but you can also used canned or fresh.  I used home canned peaches in medium syrup and the amount of honey could be halved.  Also, I like to process it lightly with a stick blender after I add the almond extract.  If you don't like almond or have an allergy, use vanilla.  I don't remove all the chunks, just most.

10 Oz Frozen Sliced Peaches   
1/4 Cups Butter   
1/3 Cups Honey   
2 Tsp Cornstarch   
2 Tbl Water
1/4 Tsp Almond Extract
2 Tbl Lemon Juice

Put peaches into a small saucepan.  Add butter, honey and lemon juice.  Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to boil.  Mix cornstarch with water until smooth, gradually stir into hot peaches.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened.  Remove form heat and stir in almond extract.  Serve hot over flannel cakes.

Country Flannel Cakes (Alda Jane Low - Grammy)

For a start to my homage to family recipes, we have flannel cakes.  Nope, not a typo, it is flannel, not funnel.  This recipe includes instruction to cook on a griddle, but this works just as well on a waffle iron.  When you add the melted butter to the liquid ingredients, if it hardens, put it in the microwave just long enough to remelt the butter and mix the ingredients - about 30 seconds.  If you don't have buttermilk, you can make sour milk.  Put 1 Tbl lemon juice in the bottom of a two cup measure and pour enough milk on top to make 1 1/2 cups.

  2 Cup Flour, Sifted                                                                  2 Tbl Sugar

  2 Tsp Baking Powder                                                              3 Eggs

  1/2 Tsp Baking Soda                                                               1 1/2 Cup Buttermilk

  1/2 Tsp Salt                                                                            1/2 Cup Melted Butter

Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.  Beat eggs until thick and foamy.  Stir in buttermilk and melted butter into eggs.  Stir in dry ingredients until mixture is just blended;  batter will be lumpy.  Fry cakes on hot, lightly greased griddle until bubbles appear on the surface.  Turn with a spatula and brown on other side.  Serve flannel cakes immediately with hot  peach-butter syrup.

Week 19 - 39.85

First things first, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  For the remainder of May, I will be sharing my mother's recipes, which can be connected to various family members.

This week was a slow week - 39.85 miles  It finds me near Wyoming, Illinois - where you can find the Rock Island Trail State Park's headquarters.  From the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Website, this is a 26 mile trail that stretches from Alton to Toulon.  It is a rail-trail trail and the prairie grass and wildflowers are remains of early rail travel.  Also reminiscent of the rail travel are the trestle bridge found connecting Wyoming and Toulon over the Spoon river.   There are also three remaining passenger depots along the trail. 

Crab and Asparagus Risotto

The CSA season has just started, but I am greatly enjoying it already.  First with a stir fry, now with risotto.  When making risotto, you may use wine or replace the wine with broth.  The only rule I follow is I am going to use wine, I will use a wine that I enjoy drinking.  For this risotto, I used Cullari Vineyards White on White, a semi-dry wine.  Not only did it compliment the recipe well, it is a bright, crisp wine to drink.  The nutrition information supplied is for 6 servings.

  4 Cup Chicken Stock                                                             1/2 Cup White Wine

  1 1/2 Cup Water, more if needed                                            1 1/4 Tsp Salt

  2 Cups Asparagus                                                                 1/2 Lb Crabmeat

  3 Tbl Butter                                                                          1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

  3 Tbl Spring Onion, Minced                                                    1 Tsp Orange Zest

  3 Clove Garlic, Minced                                                          1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley

  1 1/2 Cup Arborio Rice                                                         1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

Cut the ends off the asparagus and cut into 1 inch pieces - you should have two cups when finished.  Bring the water to a simmer in a medium pot. Cook the asparagus in the broth until just done.  Remove with a slotted spoon. Put in a colander, rinse with cold  water, and drain. DO NOT DISCARD WATER - keep it at a simmer.  Bring broth to a simmer

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add the rice and stir until it begins to turn opaque, about 2 minutes.  Add the white wine and stir until the wine is absorbed. Add about 1/2 cup of the simmering broth.  Cook and stir until the broth is absorbed.  Continue adding broth 1/2 cup at a time and letting the rice absorb it before adding more. Cook the rice in this way until tender.  If you run out of broth before the rice is tender, use the water from  the asparagus.  You may not need all of the liquid, or you may need more broth or water.

Stir in the salt, asparagus, crab, cheese, orange zest, garlic, parsley, and pepper; cook until heated through.

Per Serving: 383 Cal (26% from Fat, 25% from Protein, 49% from Carb); 23 g Protein; 11 g Tot Fat; 6 g Sat Fat; 3 g Mono Fat;  45 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 159 mg Calcium; 5 mg Iron; 2125 mg Sodium

Tex Mex Macaroni

This is an especially simple to make, quick recipe.  I'll admit, it may seem an odd mix, but that is why this blog is called try and like.  Use any baked beans and barbecue sauce that you like - if you prefer to make it vegetarian, use a vegetarian bean.  I used Bush's Original Baked Beans and Kraft Thick 'n Spicy Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce as they have very complimentary flavors.  Generally, I do not like a sweet sauce, but it really works in this case.

For the vegetables, you can use fresh, but frozen are just as good.  I used the Giant Brand steam in bag and undercooked them slightly so they could finish cooking in the sauce without over cooking.  I also added about a cup of peppers that were frozen from my garden last year - you can never have enough veggies, right?

This reheats well.  The nutrition provided is for 6 servings.

  13.25 Ounce Whole Grain Macaroni                                       2 Tbl ketchup

  14.5 Ounce Diced Tomatoes                                                  1 Pkg Taco Seasoning

  16 Ounce Baked Beans                                                         12 Ounce Frozen Mixed Vegetables

  1/4 Cup Barbecue Sauce                                                        sprinkling of crushed chili peppers

Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain.  While cooking, cook the vegetables to package directions.  Combine the pasta and vegetables in the pan used to cook the pasta.  Add tomatoes, baked beans, barbecue sauce, ketchup, taco seasoning, and  crushed chili peppers to the pot.  Stir and simmer for 15 minutes.

Per Serving: 389 Cal (3% from Fat, 15% from Protein, 81% from Carb); 16 g Protein; 2 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 0 g Mono Fat; 84 g Carb; 13 g Fiber; 13 g Sugar; 87 mg Calcium; 4 mg Iron; 1404 mg Sodium