Slow Cooker Ham Tetrazini with Mushrooms and Peas

 

Did I base this recipe off of something from Taste of Home? Yeah, I did.  But did I completely change most things about it?  Also yeah.  I had to.  There were circumstances beyond my control, and I went with it.  It turned out pretty good, though, and made 6 generous portions of creamy comfort food for a cold winter day, so I have leftovers for lunches/dinners later!

Ingredients

• 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted (I used the low fat, low sodium kind)
• 3 cans sliced mushrooms, drained (or you could use 2 cups of sliced fresh mushrooms, *if you can find any at your store*)  
• 2 cups fully cooked ham, cubed (I used two 8 oz. ham steaks and diced them up, because little hams that used to be pretty cheap were $25 at my store)
• 1 can evaporated milk (fat free or 2%)
• about 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
• 1 package (16 oz) spaghetti (will cook before putting in slow cookr, at the end)
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 package of frozen peas (warmed/steamed before putting in slow cooker, at the end)
• Pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine the soup, mushrooms, ham, milk, mustard in the slow cooker.
   
   
   
    
2. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.
3. Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain. 
4. Cook/steam peas according to package directions. 
5. Add the spaghetti, peas, and cheese to slow cooker, then toss/stir.
   
   
   
   
   

Coffee-Walnut Cake with Coffee Buttercream

I first started working on this recipe as a potential entry in the "Ethnic Baking:Cake" category at the State Fair. While it is an English cake--rather than a Scottish one, obviously!--it is also a teatime and dessert classic.  Interestingly, the coffee flavor in the cake isn't super obvious due to the combination with the walnuts.  So if you don't like the taste of coffee, you might actually like the cake with a different flavor of frosting besides the traditional coffee buttercream.    

This recipe is based on/riffed off a few different versions I found online including this one and this one.  This one didn't win a ribbon at the 2021 State Fair, but it was popular at work and I thought it was really tasty! 

Ingredients: Cake

• 225g butter, softened 

• 225g caster/granulated white sugar

• 225g self-raising flour

• 4 eggs

• 2 Tbsp strong, cooled coffee/espresso

• ½ tsp vanilla

• ½ tsp coffee extract

• ½ tsp espresso powder

• 50g finely chopped walnut
  

Ingredients: Buttercream

• 145g unsalted butter, softened

• pinch of salt

• 500g powdered sugar

• 4 Tbsp strong, cooled coffee/espresso

• ½ tsp vanilla

• ½ tsp coffee extract
  

Optional:  8 to 12 walnut halves for decorating the top of the cake 

Instructions for Baking:

1. Grease or spray 2 round cake pans. Line the bottoms with parchment paper, grease, and dust with flour.

2.  Preheat the oven to 350F (180C)

3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 

4. Add one egg and thoroughly mix in.  Add ¼ of the flour and thoroughly mix.  Repeat, alternating, until remaining eggs and flour are combined in. 

5. In a cup, stir the espresso powder, vanilla, and coffee extract into the liquid coffee, then add to the batter. Add the chopped nuts. Stir well. 

6. Divide the cake mixture into the prepared pans and smooth tops.  .

7. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cake will be a golden brown color.

8. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely.  

 

Make the Buttercream and Assemble:

1. Cream butter, then mix the other ingredients in until it is smooth and creamy.  

2. Level cake layers if necessary

3. Assemble with frosting between layers and on top, and then decorate

• Traditionally, this cake has frosting between the layers and on top, but not on the sides.  It is usually decorated with a series of piped or spooned dollops of frosting with half-walnuts resting on them.

4. Serve with tea or coffee

Serves: 8 to 12

Honey Thyme Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli

This recipe is from another delicious Hello Fresh meal that was gifted to me in November. 

Like the pork chop meal I posted before, this felt like a lot to do for just me on a weeknight, but both recipes are a testiment to how much a good sauce can elevate a meal. Also I've done potatoes like this several times since, and they were even tastier when I used a rosemary-infused olive oil.   

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1/2 clove garlic (or more, to taste)
• 12 oz. pork tenderloin
• 8 oz. broccoli
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• chicken stock concentrate (2 servings?)
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Roast potatoes
• Adjust oven racks to middle and top positions
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees
• Wash and dry produce
• Dice potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces
• Toss on baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper
• Roast on top rack for 20 to 25 minutes--tossing halfway through--until lightly browned and tender
2. Sear pork and prep
• While potatoes roast, pat pork dry with paper towels
• Season all over with salt and pepper
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over a medium heat
• Add pork and sear, turning occassionally, until browned all over (4 to 8 minutes)
• Meanwhile, peel and mince garlic
• Once pork is browned, transfer to one side of second baking sheet
3. Toss broccoli
• Cut broccoli into bite-sized pieces if they are not already
• On opposite side of baking sheet from the pork, toss with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper
4. Roast pork and broccoli
• Put baking sheet with pork and broccoli on middle rack. 
• Roast until pork is cooked through and broccoli is tender (12-15 minutes)
• Once pork is done, transfer to cutting board to rest, then thinly slice crosswise
5. Make sauce
• Heat drizzle of oil in pan used for pork, over medium heat 
• Add minced garlic and thyme
• Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds
• Stir in stock concentrate, honey, and 1/4 cup water
• Simmer, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan, until sauce has reduced and thickened (2-3 minutes)
• Stir in 1 Tbsp. butter until melted
• Season with salt and pepper
• If sauce seems too thick, stir in a splash or two of water
6. Serve
• Divide pork, potatoes, and broccoli between two plates
• Drizzle pork with sauce

Oven-roasted Butternut Squash

Ok, so I fully recognize that roasting small chunks of squash isn't at all hard.  But I know that later on I will wonder about the time and oven temp, so it gets a blog post! (Made this on Sunday afternoon/evening, 1/16.  So this is actually something new.) 

Ingredients: 

• 1 large butternut squash
• about 3 Tbsp. olive oil (or less)--I used a rosemary-infused oil and it was great!
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet
3. Peel and seed squash
4. Cut into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks
5. Put sqaush on baking sheet 
6. Drizzle with oil, and sprinkle on salt and pepper
7. Toss with clean hands and arrange in one layer on the pan
• Note: I had to do two batches, because it wouldn't all fit on the pan at once.  It made a total of 4 containers like the two pictured above.   
  
  
  
  
  
8. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, tossing/turning once with a spatula, until squash is tender
   
   
   
   
   

Makes: about 4 servings

Brown Sugar Bourbon Apple Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans

A meal from late 2021 that is worthy of recording and making again...

A friend who gets Hello Fresh meal prep kits had put her subscription on hold for a while, but then forgot to select meals for her first week of it coming back on line in November. When they selected meals for her, they included pork, which she doesn't eat.  So I was the lucky recipient of two meal kits for 2!  

Unlike Local Crate, the Hello Fresh folks include the measurements for all the ingredients, and they specified the spice/seasoning mix.  This means that I should be able to easily recreate the recipe on my own, which I look forward to doing.  This was kind of a lot of work for a dinner for just me--especially on a workday--but I can see doing different parts of it with different short-cut meals components.  

I really liked everything about this meal, and I felt kinda fancy when it was all done.  

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes
• 6 oz. green beans
• 1 apple
• 2 scallions
• 12 oz. pork chops
• 10.8 g McCormick Grill Mates seasoning (Brown Sugar Bourbon flavor)
• Chicken stock concentrate (1 serving?)
• 2 Tbsp. sour cream 
• 1 tsp vegetable oil 
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp white sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter 
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cook Potatoes
• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Dice potatoes--1/2 inch pieces.  
• Place in pot with enough salted water to cover by 2 inches
• Bring to a boil and cook until tender (15-20 minutes)
• Save 1/2 cup potato liquid, then drain and return potatoes to the pot
• Keep off heat but covered until time to mash
2. Cook Pork
• While potatoes cook, pat pork dry with paper towels
• Season all over 
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat
• Add pork and cook until browned and fully cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side (reduce heat to medium if browning too quickly)
• Turn off heat, transfer pork to plate to rest, wipe out pan
3. Roast beans and prep apples/scallions
• While pork cooks, trim green beans if necessary
• Toss on baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper
• Roast in oven on middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes
• While bean are in the oven, halve, core, and dice  apple into 1/4-inch pieces
• Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens
4. Make sauce
• Melt 1 Tbsp butter in pan used for pork, over medium-high heat
• Add apple and scallion whites
• Season with salt and pepper
• Cook, stirring occassionally, until golden (4 to 6 minutes)
• Whisk together stock concentrate, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 tsp sugar.  
• Add to pan and cook until sauce is thickened and apple is tender (5-7 minutes)
• In the last 2 minutes, return pork to pan until warmed through 
• Season with salt and pepper
• Turn off heat
5. Mash potatoes
• Mash potatoes until mostly smooth
• Stir in scallion greens, sour cream, 1 Tbsp butter, and a splash of the potato water.
• Season with salt and pepper
6. Serve
• Divide pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans between two plates. 
• Top pork with apple pan sauce

Double-blueberry lemon beer bread

 

I mostly failed in writing about or recording my recipes, projects, and experiments for 2021, but that doesn't mean I can't start again fresh in 2022, right?  

So this is what I made on Saturday to bring to my parents' house as a treat...

I've been working on what is essentially a double-blueberry beer bread--a quick-style beer bread made with both blueberry beer and fresh blueberries--for a while now.  I've entered two versions in the State Fair (no ribbons for it so far!), but this newest version is the best yet, I think.  The dough is a beautiful light lavender color, though that color largely bakes out.  Ane the addition of the extra lemon ingredients make the finishing taste a nice citrus one.       

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• +/- 1/4 tsp dried grated lemon peel 
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (this time I used dark brown sugar)
• 12 oz. blueberry beer (I used Grain Belt Blu blueberry lager)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4  teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup whole, fresh blueberries with 1 Tablespoon flour stirred into them
• Finely granulated white sugar to sprinkle on top of the loaf 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F 
2. Lightly spray 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray
3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and lemon peel
   
   
   
   
   
4. Lightly whisk together vanilla, lemon juice, lemon extract, melted butter, and beer in a measuring cup
   
   
   
   
   
5. Pour liquids into dry ingredients and stir until well mixed
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Fold in blueberries
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Put mixture in pan, smooth top, and sprinkle top with granulated sugar
   
   
   
   
   
8. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until lightly browned and middle is set