Lemon Crinkle Cookies

This recipe was the winning cookie on an L.D.S. Web site. I tried it and thought it was very good. I love chocolate crinkles, but this lemon version is light, crisp and has just enough lemon to say it is Spring...bring on the citrus. Not too sweet either, but rolled in powdered sugar to give them the typical crinkled look. I am also glad to say that this cookie, when stored covered, did not dry out but remained chewy. Oh, go on, give it a try!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon each baking powder and salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients except powdered sugar. Mix well and chill for 30 minutes. Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into balls and roll dough balls in powdered sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees until barely browned on edges and matte (not shiny and damp looking). Cool 3 minutes before removing to cookie racks to cool. Makes about 40? Can't really remember and now we have eaten them all!

Jacked up banana bread

For years I've been making different banana breads, in hopes of finding a really great one and saving that recipe. And for years, I've made banana breads that weren't banana-y enough. Even the highest-rated ones on allrecipes.com, which is my go-to site for recipes, weren't that great.

Last night I was bored and decided to do something with my overripe bananas. On a whim, I went to one of the ultimate great food blogs, smittenkitchen, for inspiration. Thankfully, she had a banana bread recipe, and more thankfully, it's fantastic! I've learned that the secret to better banana bread is (and please don't laugh if this sounds silly).... MORE BANANAS. WHO KNEW. Most of the banana bread recipes out there use 2 or 3 bananas for a 9x5 loaf. This one uses 4 for a 8x4 loaf. So here 'tis:

JACKED UP BANANA BREAD

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 to 1 cup light brown sugar (depending on the level of sweetness you prefer, she uses the smaller amount, I use the larger of course)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

YUM.

T's White Chicken Chili

Back in October, Steve and I went to a ward chili cook-off and someone made an awesome white chicken chili. We've been meaning to make our own ever since, but never got around to it until last night. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com and then made quite a few modifications. you can find the original recipe here. We had our neighbors over last night, and served it to them for dinner. It was a big hit.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of chicken
1 cup sour cream
3 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Slowly cook and stir the onion until tender. Mix in the garlic, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the cream of chicken and sour cream. Add the chicken broth, chicken and white beans. Simmer about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove the mixture from heat. Slowly stir in cheese until melted. Serve warm.

NOTE: Even with the modifications I made to the original recipe, it's a bit spicy. Try using less cayenne pepper or replacing the green chiles with some green peppers if you're not big on spicy foods.

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
3 eggs
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk

For glaze:
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon each: melted butter, vanilla and almond extract

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in large bowl. In medium bowl combine eggs, oil, butter and flavorings and beat two minutes. Add wet mixture to dry mixture alternating with milk until all is smooth. Pour into well greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pans and cool on racks. Glaze with ingredients above for glaze. Makes two loaves 9"x5"x3" or at least 6 mini loaves (mini loaves bake only for about 35 minutes or less).

Pumpkin Garlic Knots

Since there really isn't much of an Autumn here in the islands, a few friends and I went through a pumpkin phase to make things taste a little more Fall-ish.  We pulled this one up from tastespotting.com and it proved to be DELICIOUS and super easy.

Pumpkin Garlic Knots

Yield: 2 batches

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 envelope active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey)
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons plus 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
• 3-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1. For the dough: Pour the warm water into a medium bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the agave nectar, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and pumpkin puree.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients then pour in your wet ingredients.
3. Using a rubber spatula, pull all the ingredients together. When you can no longer mix, use your hands to start kneading the dough. Knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth and elastic ball, adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

4. Lightly oil another large bowl and put your dough ball inside it -- flipping over once to coat both sides lightly with oil. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let rise for about 2 hours; or until nearly doubled in size
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, put in a pizza stone (you may use a pan, too, but it works best with a stone), and divide the dough into two equal pieces. If you're planning to use the other half the next day, just put it in a large zip-lock bag and store in the fridge. You may also freeze the dough for up to three weeks.

6. To create the garlic knots: tear off sections of dough (2 tablespoons at a time) and roll them into a long snake shape. Tie that snake in a knot. Set aside and continue with the rest of the dough.
7. Once you've made all your knots, put them on your stone (or on your pan) and let bake until golden brown on the tops, about 10-15 minutes depending on size of knots.

8. While the knots are baking, in a bowl mix together the 1/3 cup olive oil with minced garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano. When the knots are done, toss in the olive oil mixture to coat. (We just brushed the oil mixture on, and also tried baking them with the oil mixture so it was a little less messy to eat. Both worked out fine)

Juli's "This is what I've had for breakfast every day for the last month" Smoothie

Like smoothies?

Want to stop drinking Starbucks' three pump white mocha chais for breakfast three stinkin' times a week? (That one might just be me...and did you know that it's a $4.51-apiece beverage?)

Trying to tone up and look hot?

Try this.

Place blender on counter, and add the following ingredients:

1/2 medium banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen watermelon
1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup frozen spinach (must be frozen. Buy a bag of it and throw it in the freezer.)
1/2 cup orange juice

BLEND BLEND BLEND and then add:

1 scoop whey protein powder (vanilla, if you please), if you're into that sort of thing. Don't put protein powder in your smoothie unless you intend to exert yourself at some point during the day, or if you are upping protein for some other unknown reason.

BLEND BLEND BLEND!!

WICKED GOOD. Makes about 25 ounces o' beverage, which can be split up, I suppose, though I do not. The whole thing (including protein powder) is roughly 400 calories. Take out the powder and it's closer to 270.

You can substitute frozen blueberries or frozen peaches for the watermelon, but I find that the watermelon freezes kinda like ice cubes since it's so...watery...and so forth, and that helps the whole thing stay cold.

I promise you will neither smell nor taste the spinach, it will only turn your beverage a little greenish brown.

And that is all!

Here are two different vinaigrettes that I have tried and absolutely love. I've made the Balsamic-mustard vinaigrette for D&J, M&B, as well as B&D (Boyd and Janie) and it seemed to be a hit with all of them, so I will go ahead and recommend that you all try it. I'm also including one that I more recently tried and really enjoyed that's a lemon vinaigrette. I'll also include some salad fixings that went really well with these particular dressings.

Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons very finely minced shallot
1/2 teaspoon regular or light mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Ground black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Combine vinegar, shallot, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper to taste in small nonreactive bowl. Whisk until misture is milky in appearance and no lumps of mayonnaise remain.
2. Place oil in small measuring cup so that it is easy to pour. Whisking constantly, very slowly drizzle oil into vinegar mixture. Vinaigrette should be glossy and lightly thickened, with no pools of oil on its surface.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon regular or light mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Ground black pepper
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Follow directions for Balsamic-Mustard vinaigrette adding the sugar and lemon zest with the salt and pepper.


*For the Balsamic-Mustard Vinaigrette I used more assertive greens (I generally prefer spinach and the like) with Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and toasted pine nuts. I have also added penne to the mix to make a delicious pasta salad.
For the Lemon Vinaigrette its recommended to use milder greens, and I added white mushrooms, craisins, red onions, and toasted slivered almonds.