Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch

If I grew up on a farm, I don't think I'd have any trouble living off the land. I love making homemade from scratch recipes. I just think they taste better. I also think the finer the ingredients, the better the taste. Let's face it, You can throw half a stick of butter in pot full of green beans, and you still don't have the calorie intake you'd get from a Big Mac at McDonald's. Homemade is simply... better.

So, I found this recipe from Joy the Baker for Buttermilk Ranch, and had to try it, and it turned out great!



So, let's get started. I've got my mayonnaise, my "light" sour cream that I just happened to have already, my parsely, chives, my salt and my garlic. Lets do this!



This is the most "gourmet" part of the recipe. Mince a clove of garlic, and sprinkle a small amount of salt on top, and with a fork, blend the salt and garlic to make a paste.



Next, finely chop your herbs, and blend with the rest of the ingredients.



This came out amazing. I added a tablespoon of sugar just to shake

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing (Adapted from Joy The Baker)

1 cup of real mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

buttermilk

1 clove of garlic

1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley

2 Tablespoons fresh chives

1 Tablespoon sugar

salt to taste

healthy pinch of freshly ground black pepper

dash of Tabasco


Mince the garlic with a knife and then sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of salt onto the garlic. With a fork, mash the garlic and salt into a thick paste.

In a bowl combine all of the ingredients except for the buttermilk. Stir. Add buttermilk until you've reach the desired consistency. Taste and season as necessary. Chill for a couple hours before serving. Thin with milk when it comes out of the fridge if you wish.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Porches Chicken Salad

I have this bad habit. Maybe it's a good habit... I'm not sure, but I associate warm memories with restaurants I eat at. I know... call me crazy!

Back before I married my wife, I used to take my Mom to a restaurant called Porches literally every week, and literally... every week, we got Chicken Salad on Croissant. And now that I live 7 hours away, when we visit, we always make time to go there. I've even blogged about it. It's a great southern restaurant where they know me by name.

A few years ago, they came out with a cookbook, and in it was the recipe for their Chicken Salad. Although it's never as good as going there in person, my wife and I make it at home frequently, and I wanted to let you in on the secret.

Let's start with four boneless skinless chicken breast. Sprinkle some salt and pepper, and bake em'. While that's going on get out the food processor. We're going to need it. If you don't have a food processor, that's fine... you can do this the old fashioned way... you know, with a knife. :)



While the chicken is baking, cut your celery and red onion into smaller pieces so the food processor can dice them down.



After the chicken has cooled, break into chunks, and place in the food processor.



Next, pulse the chicken a few times to break it up.



Then, add your onion and celery and do the same.



Then, add your mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt and pepper, and this is what you'll get!

I hope you like it! Here's the recipe:

Porches Chicken Salad

4 large boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 red onion
2 stalks celery
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil or Bake chicken breast until done

Dice chicken into small chunks

Place chicken in food processor and pulse 3-5 times

Place onion and celery in food process and pulse again 3-5 times

Combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, and salt and pepper.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Strawberry Preserves



This morning I decided to test out a new recipe. I've never attempted preserves before, but I wanted to give it a shot.

The upside to making homemade preserves is... when you make it at home, you know exactly what goes into it, and exactly what goes in your mouth. No artificial sweeteners, sugars, words I can't pronounce... you get the idea.

I made a small amount just to see how it turned out, and it turned out awesome! It's sweet, rich, and healthy.

This recipe is a piece of cake (I wish I had a piece of cake right now). There's two ingredients: Strawberries and Sugar.



First, hull and slice your strawberries. I left my in decent chunks. I'm a chunky preserve kind of dude.





Next throw 'em in a pot, and add your sugar. Take a load off, because the hard work is done.



Then, bring to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes... depending on altitude, humidity, and barometric pressure. (I'll explain further down.)



I was told to let simmer for about 15 minutes, but it took about 20-25. Your best bet is letting it simmer until you get the right consistency. I like mine thick... not runny, so I let mine simmer a little bit longer.

When you get to the consistency that's right for you, pour it in your mason jar, let it cool, and dig in.

For this recipe, I used a small amount to make sure it would turn out right, so I'm going to go ahead and double this recipe for you to make it easier. I hope you like it!

32 ounces strawberries
1 cup sugar

First, hull and dice your strawberries, and put in a saucepan.

Next, add 1 cup of sugar. I used raw cane sugar, but if you have granulated, have at it.

Bring to a boil, and let simmer for about 20 minutes, until you reach the consistency that's right for you.

Pour into a jar. Let it cool. Serve.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Chocolate Pie!

Gather around everybody! We've got a guest blogger today!

I've always been told that when someone cooks it for you, it just tastes better... and I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's true, at least in this specific case. Good friend, Heather Arrington, made this Chocolate Pie for our office, and let me tell ya... it was good!

Everybody, put your hands together, and please welcome... Heather Arrington!


I grew up eating some of the most amazing southern foods. One of my all-time favorites is chocolate pie. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas my Uncle Gary would bring the famous pies warm out of the oven for everyone to enjoy. As I have grown up and found a love for baking I wanted to learn how to make this famous and delicious pie. This past Thanksgiving I mentioned to my dad that I wanted the recipe for this chocolate pie. In my mind it was a family recipe handed down from many years on some old piece of notebook paper, but I quickly discovered that the recipe came from the Autryville Cookbook.

For those who have never heard of Autryville, NC it is a small town in Eastern North Carolina with one light, lots of great people (some are my family) and many yummy recipes. My dad’s mother was an Autry and grew up in that part of NC. As a child I loved going there to visit my dad’s aunts and uncles, see all the tobacco and cotton fields and eat some good food. Little did I know at the time, many of those recipes were part of a collection that were added to the Autryville Cookbook.


I hope you will find a love for this chocolate pie from Autryville, NC!

Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
2 cups of milk
3 eggs
½ tsp. vanilla
5 tbsp. flour
½ stick of butter
3 tbsp. cocoa
1 pie shell – *(I use the store bought kind, but you can be brave and try to make your own! ☺ If you use the store bought kind, follow directions and pre-bake pie shell accordingly.)




Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
As I mentioned, I use a frozen store bought pie shell. I find it works best to bake the pie shell while you are cooking the pie filling. They typically get completed about the same time.
For the pie shell, you will want to use a fork and poke hole all throughout the pie shell before you bake it. This will help it was puffing up too much.



Using a double boiler you will want to cook the ingredients as follows:
Mix sugar, flour, cocoa, milk, butter and vanilla and add to double boiler.
In a separate dish you should separate two egg yolks and one whole egg. Beat well with a folk and add to the double boiler. Make sure to save the egg whites since we will use those for the meringue.
Now you are ready to turn on the burner and get the pie filling going! Be sure to continuously stir the ingredients so it does not stick or burn. Be patient as it can take upwards of 15 minutes to get the pie filling thick enough to be ready to pour in the pie shell. You will notice the filling starting to get thicker and harder to stir after about 10 minutes. Keep stirring well at this point because it can burn very easily towards to end.

Once you think the filling it thick enough, remove from burner and add to pre-baked pie shell.



Now you are ready to make the meringue.
Beat, in mixer, two egg whites and 4 tbsp. of sugar until thick enough that the meringue will stand in peaks. I often add a small amount of vanilla to the meringue just for taste, but this is optional.



Cover pie with meringue. Do not smooth the meringue over the pie, score it some before putting in oven. This will make the meringue brown and look picture ready for your table!

Brown in 350 degree oven for about 10-15 or until meringue has a light brown tint. Remove from oven and serve. If you like warm pies, you are in business.

If you prefer your pies to cool before eating, this pie tastes just as fabulous at room temperature. I often let mine sit about 6-8 hours before serving because I think the pie tastes best at room temperature after sitting for a while. Just my personal preference!



I hope you find this recipe easy to prepare and yummy to eat! It has become one of my favorites!!

-Heather Arrington

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Where have I been? (Creamy Sausage Croissants)

Where have I been? Wish I could say the beach, or watching football... but I've been working and going to school. Finals for summer classes are about to be here, so on top of that, my wife and I also just moved into our new place. We have been so incredibly busy, cooking fell on the back burner... literally.

That's okay though... I'm back now.
Here's a recipe my wife got from one of her friends. I'm not sure what it's called, so we're going to name it Creamy Sausage Croissants. It's so easy to make. Anyone can do it.

I think I could do it five years ago... (back when I could barely cook scrambled eggs)...



Start with cooking some ground sausage in a skillet. Then, throw in an 8 ounce package of cream cheese. Go ahead... throw it in there.



Then, lay out a store bought package of crescent rolls, and spoon out the mixture onto a greased baking sheet.




Then, Roll them up and bake the crescent rolls for 8 to 10 minutes at 350*, and you're done!

I hope you like it!


Creamy Sausage Croissants

1 lb Sausage
1 8 oz package Cream Cheese
2 packages crescent rolls (canned)

Cook Sausage and add in Cream Cheese. Next, spoon out mixture onto crescent rolls. Roll and Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes, until lightly brown on top.