Aw, Nuts!

Yep! Nut Rolls!!!
Yep! Takes a while to make them.
Yep! Worth every bite!

Sorry I only have pics of them in the raw stage. I'll post the finished pic and recipe when I make the next batch.

This is one of the family favorites for holidays in our house. I am of Croatian descent and my Mom always baked these for holidays. If she was in a really REALLY good humor, then we'd get them some time during the year. Actually, the 'good humor' was if she wanted some. So, we all benefited from her wants. My Aunt, of Blessed Memory, made the poppy seed rolls and some nut rolls. Sometimes, whoever made the best ones, swapped out with the other. It was interesting to see how different each person made theirs.

Here's a pic of the rolling process. Dough is rolled thin. Nut mixture is applied to 2/3 of the dough. For extra flavor, small wads of butter are placed here and there over the filling. Then, the roll begins. Ends are tucked in and under so nothing leaks.

This is my favorite dough recipe. I'll post this later, too. It is really weird to do, but it turns out great.

I hope all of you had a great holiday season. I wish you many blessings during the new year.

Take care.

Comforts of Home!

Mmmmmm! I know this isn't the most gorgeous picture, but it is a very comforting picture. Just think...these are warm out of the oven! Homemade! I sat down with a cup of steaming hot joe, these biscuits and a jar of lemon curd. How much more comforting can you get?! Here's my recipe.




Scratch Biscuits
2 cups all purpose flour
6 tablespoons of shortening, butter or margarine
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt

Cut all of the shortening into the dry ingredients until nice and crumbly.

Then, add...
1 cup of milk or buttermilk (I add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup of either sour cream or plain yogurt)

Stir this all together until the ingredients are nice and wet.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead about 6 times. This will make a few flaky layers.
Pat into about a 1/2 inch slab.
Cut with a biscuit cutter or a floured drinking glass.
Place on an ungreased baking pan.
If you have dough left over, gather it, fold it once or twice and pat into another 1/2 inch slab.
Cut more biscuits.
When you don't have enough left over to cut, make a hand-styled biscuit (see top left biscuit).
Bake at 400 degrees until nicely browned.

Japanese Meatloaf

I tried a WONDERFUL meatloaf recipe from the blog I follow called Japanese Cooking Lovers. It is listed on the right of this blog. You MUST try this! This is a pic of my Hubby's lunch today. I made smaller meatloaves so they'd fit nicely into a container with other stuff. Green beans to the top left; meatloaf to the top right; baked potato on the bottom.

I can't tell you how yummy this was. It cooked up in a matter of minutes. It was SO juicy and had SO much flavor that I didn't even use the sauce given in the recipe. The best part is it cooks in a frying pan so you don't have to wait for hours to eat it.

There was a tip on the site to make the meatloaf very tender. It was a little hard to figure, but I asked Yuri about it. When you put all of the meat ingredients together, whip the meat until your arms get tired. Then whip it some more. And then whip it some more. This breaks down the fibers in the meat and incorporates all of the ingredients well. The meat should be creamy and loose when you are done.

Please check out the Japanese Cooking Lovers blog! You will not be sorry!

Happy cooking!

Thanksgiving's Just Desserts

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving! This is my holiday to cook for family and friends. I really enjoy having the company and spending quality time with family and friends. We had several friends at our table this year. The more the merrier.

Here is a pic of just my desserts for this year. I went a little crazy.

The yellow bundt cake was made into a banana cream cake. Middle left pic is a cherry and blackberry pie, middle right is pumpkin. Top left pie is apple and top right is peach. I also made a banana cream pie, which was in the fridge. They all turned out well and I didn't have too much left over as most people took extras home. I gave away the apple pie to our yard boy and his family. He came over to help me out with a little chore the day before Thanksgiving, so I gave him the pie and a few bucks for his efforts. I hope they liked it.


Here's a really simple recipe I'd like to share with you. It's for the crumb topping on the pies.


Crumb Topping


Take equal parts of:

Butter, softened
Brown Sugar
Flour
Oatmeal


Mix them together until crumbly. Crumble on top of the pie and bake your pie as usual.


Tip: for each pie, I use half cup increments. This is the topping I use for Apple Betty. It works well on sweet potatoes, too.

'Hello' Post

Hello!

As you can see from my About Me section, I love to cook. My husband, family and friends are the recipients of my practicing. Lucky them?!

All of my 'family secret' recipes and tips will be lost with my passing. So, I want to share with all of you what I know about cooking, how I do it, etc. Long after I'm gone from this world, maybe my tips, tricks and recipes will still be used by those of you who love to cook.

I have some food allergies to additives and soy, so I'll be cooking from scratch. I do use some pre-packaged foods, but they are not a lot. So, if you're like me, this may be the blog for you.

I hope to entice all of you into trying to cook along with me. It's not hard. It's fun!

See you later!