Yay for Me!

Saturday evening E and I went to the coffee shop to talk to the owner. She was really excited about getting my goodies in her restaurant! Yay!! She also wants me to sell my jams since there is a gift shop. I took her samples of some jams and Peanut Butter Brookies. She and everyone else absolutely loved them. She wanted me to start bringing her things right away. Yesterday I spent the afternoon baking and canning. Here is a pic of the Peanut Butter Brookies and Gingerbread Biscotti that I am taking down there this evening. The biscotti will go great with their Gingerbread Lattes. I don't drink coffee and even that sounds good!
I'll think of a couple more things to come up with and take them down there later in the week. The partner even asked if I could do cakes and pies. I told her I'd have no problem with that, but I'd have to figure the cost out. Some cakes and pies might be too expensive. I explained to her that I only use quality ingredients, so that can make the prices go up some. I'll have to experiment some this week. In the mean time, E and I need to do some serious exercising!!

On another note, Wayne (E's step-father) was having a heart attack Saturday. I say "having" because it was caught before it turned into a full-blown heart attack. He looked pretty bad when the rescue squad took him out. He's doing much better now and may be able to come home today. I hope he takes it easy from here on out and I hope the start eating healthier. I don't think I should be using them as my guinea pigs anymore!

Cranberry-Orange Biscuits

Last night I made the Coconut Lemon Bars with Chocolate Cookie Crust. They certainly looked nice, but I was still unsure about the taste. I made a small pan so we could sample it. I didn't put nearly enough lemon on it. The 1/2 sheet that I made for the restaurant had more lemon. E and I were still undecided. I took the bars by the restaurant at lunch today and Randy cut me off a piece to try. They were actually good! The crust was nice and moist and there was just the right amount of lemon. The sample pan I made had a dryer crust, so I obviously baked it too long. The moist crust makes all of the difference.

I have finally remembered to grab my recipe for these yummy biscuits. These are so good hot out of the oven on a cold morning.

Cranberry-Orange Biscuits

Adapted from BH&G

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp finely shredded orange peel

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1 Tbsp fresh orange juice

1 Tbsp milk

1 recipe Orange Glaze

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Ina a bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, orange peel, salt, and baking soda. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add dried cranberries; toss until well mixed. Make a well in center of the flour mixture. Add yogurt, orange juice, and milk all at once. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing it for 10 to 12 strokes or until dough is nearly smooth. Pat or lightly roll dough until 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough with a floured 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, rerolling scraps as necessary and dipping cutter into flour between cuts.

3. Place dough circles 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden. Remove biscuits from baking sheet; cool 5 minutes. Drizzle with Orange glaze. Serve warm.

Orange Glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp finely shredded orange peel

3 to 4 tsps orange juice or more if needed

In a small bowl, combine ingredients to reach glazing consistency.

I Forgot!

Well, as usual, I forgot something. I forgot to grab my recipe for the Cranberry Orange Biscuits to post today. I'll TRY to remember to do that tomorrow, but I can't make any promises. I took the lemon bars to the restaurant yesterday afternoon. Randy said he liked the idea of the cherry coconut bars, but he didn't like the cherries (they were canned cherries). He wants me to, instead, use lemon. I told him I didn't think lemon and chocolate went together and he said they certainly did. He wants me to bring them in tomorrow. Guess what I'm doing tonight?

It was nice to not have to work at Fabio's last night. I knew Ann needed the money so I let her work my shift. After all, I do have a full time job (among the many other things I do) and Fabio's is her only job. I was able to sit down and work on knitting a scarf that I've been working on for a year now!! I undid the whole thing a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting back to it. I got a good bit done during the commercial breaks while watching Lost. Oh, and I have to say I just LOVE Lost! I have so many questions this week so I hope they answer a few of them next week.

Busy Weekend!

I've been a busy bee this weekend. I've been doing a lot of baking and seed starting. Right now I have a couple varieties of lettuce, spinach, leeks, and arugula waiting to sprout. Maybe by this weekend they will have. I'll be seeding some more lettuce tonight and maybe some flowers.

Last night I baked a 1/2 sheet of lemon bars. Here they are, ready to go to the restaurant today.

E took some samples that I baked this weekend to the coffee shop. He's going back today to take some business cards. I hope to hear back from them soon. I'm thinking I should probably bake a few cakes, cookies, and pies to take to them to sample. That way they'll know what all I can bake.

I took some samples to work and everybody loved them. People kept thanking me for bringing them yummy treats. Sigh. I love to make people's taste buds happy! E took a sample tray to his supervisor and she said that she will volunteer to be my official taste tester. :)

Here is a pic of my Brookies and a recipe I created, Cherry Coconut Bars. Those bars were delicious. I'm entering them into the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I doubt I'll have a chance, but you never know. I'm going to toil around with some other recipes to see what I can come up with.

I decided that I wanted to start baking my own bread. I'm a little nervous using yeast, so I decided to just start out using the bread machine. Here is a loaf of white bread. The house smelled so good as it was baking. Oh, and it tasted good, too. If I have time this weekend, I'll try to do some regular bread baking. I think I'll have to go buy some more bread pans first, though.

Saturday morning I wanted to make E a nice V-Day breakfast. Along with eggs and bacon, I made these Cranberry-Orange Biscuits from BH&G. I'll try to remember to post the recipe tomorrow. These were delicious! I've never made a biscuit by scratch before (can you say Bisquick?) so this was a treat. It's so much better than the baking mixes so I think I'll start making all biscuits by scratch from here on out. I may mess around with something tonight, or just take the night off. I haven't decided yet.

Miss B

Cranberry Bars

I wanted to actually bake a Raspberry, Walnut, & Chocolate Bar, but soon realized I had no raspberry preserves nor walnuts. Therefore, I had to compromise. I didn't think my Spiced Blueberry Jam or the Banana-Mango Jam would work to good with this. Since I already had the crust in the oven I had to come up with something. So....I pulled out a can of whole cranberry sauce and some pecans. This bar scared me when I first took it out of the oven because I didn't think it was done, even though the top was nicely browned. Everything still seemed so soft. After it completely cooled, it all fell into place. This actually turned out to be a good bar and a somewhat healthy one at that (unless you want to take into consideration all of the sugar!) Here is the recipe and some not-to-pretty pics. Sorry. I really, really need to get a good camera.

Cranberry Bars

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar (I used white, but you could very well use brown)

1 can whole cranberry sauce

Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, butter, and 1/3 cup of brown sugar with electric mixer at low speed; mixture will be crumbly. Press onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool for 10 minutes. Spread cranberry sauce over crust.

3. Mix 1/4 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, eggs, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Spread batter over cranberry layer. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate chips.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely. Cut into bars.

What a Morning!

I started this blog with the intentions of only posting when I had a recipe, tip, or baking experience. I didn't plan to post anything today because I didn't really have anything to share. That was until this morning. Dixie went near a skunk this morning. She didn't get a direct spray, but she certainly got some of the offensive smell on her nose. Living in the country, I should be used to this, right? Ugh! I can never get use to that smell! I have tried many things to get rid of the odor. I have found one reliable concoction that I use everytime now. It's from "Joey Green's Amazing Kitchen Cures "book. I love this book. It has so much useful information. Here is the recipe I use. There may still be a slight odor left behind, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING like the other concoctions leave. Oh, and I don't have to worry about having a pink dog for a month!

Skunk Odor Remover

In a bucket, mix the contents of one small box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, two cups hydrogen peroxide, one teaspoon of Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, and one gallon warm water. Use a scrub brush to wash with this solution.

I'm telling you, it's a God send. Miss Dixie is on the back deck freezing her little tail off (don't worry, the temps are rising to near 70 today!) but at least most of the smell is gone. I can smell only a hint of it when I put my nose right up to hers. Now, I just hope the house airs out by the time I get home.

http://www.amazon.com/Joey-Greens-Amazing-Kitchen-Cures/dp/1579546447/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234272528&sr=8-1

Excited

Okay. Now I'm really excited. Just dropped off a pan of Brookies at the restaurant and Randy said they are selling like crazy. He does stuff with Montpelier and said that they'll probably want my Brookies. He said he's going to be relying on me heavily. Sounds like I'm going to be busy!!