Irish Soda Bread

4 c. Flour

4 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 c. milk

1 egg

1/4 c. whipping cream

1 c. raisins (or currants)

optional: 1 tbsp. melted butter + brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 375. 

Add softened butter to flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Incorporate through the dough.

Mix milk and egg, and slowly add to the batter.

Fold in whipping cream.

Add raisins (or currants) and incorporate slowly throughout.

Mix dough. It will be wet.  Knead on a floured surface until the dough holds together nicely.  Make an X or a snowflake with a serrated knife. Using a plastic baggie, pipe the butter and brown sugar mixture into the X or snowflake shape on top of the bread.

Bake for 40 min.

Enjoy!

Turkey, Bean, & Carrot Soup

If you're tired of chili, or haven't made it in a while, this can serve as a nice substitute. The ground turkey is yummy and tasty!


ingredients
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 lb ground turkey
1 small can of tomato paste
1 tbsp. minced roasted garlic
white navy beans- about 1 1/2 cups
5-6 carrots, chopped
1 32 oz. box broth- vegetable, beef, or chicken (I used chicken, made by Progresso, and it was yummy)
seasoning to taste (I used pinch of oregano, cumin, onion powder, salt, and pepper)


The night before, I put a pound of ground turkey in the crock pot with tomato paste, about a cup or cup and a half of water, 1 tbsp. roasted minced garlic, 1/4 c. chopped onion, salt, and pepper.   Set some dried beans in a soup pot to soak overnight (after rinsing and sorting). The turkey cooked in about 3 hours in my slow cooker, and I then put it in the refrigerator to chill.

The next day, I chopped some carrots into chunks, and added those to the drained beans. I covered all with broth and let simmer on the stove for an hour or two, stirring until carrots are soft and beans are fully cooked.  The carrots may not take as long as the beans; in this case, remove the carrots carefully with a slotted spoon, and add to the turkey mixture, which should be chilling in the refrigerator. When the beans are finished, chill.

Finally, add the turkey and tomato-paste mixture to the beans and broth, stirring on low simmer until heated through, about 10-15 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, and other seasonings of your choice- or hot sauce- to taste!

Serve piping hot with fresh buttermilk biscuits or good bread! We are really into marmalade right now if you can't tell! :-)

Aunt Marnie's Fruit Tea

Aunt Marnie’s Fruit Tea

1. Brew Orange Spice Tea (decaf)

2. equal parts Limeade,

3. Lemonade,

4. Orange Juice

For beer tea, simply mix 1/2 c. of fruit tea with 1/2 c. beer. It’s delicious!

Put in an old milk jug

Freeze leftovers

Potato & Vegetable Soup

1 Zucchini, diced
1 Squash, diced
2 baking potatoes, diced
3 cups beef broth
onion
garlic
salt
oregano
2 tbsp. butter

Put everything into a slow cooker, on low.

At the end, add butter. This was so yummy!

Pork Roast with Raisins and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

Dale seasoning sauce
Pork tenderloin (about 2lb)
Roasted Garlic (from a jar)
Raisins
Pine Nuts

~Place Pork tenderloin in a shallow pan.
~Pour about 2/3 c. Dale's seasoning sauce all over Pork tenderloin.
~Add about 2-3 c. of water to the bottom of the pan.
~Top Pork roast with 1 tsp. roasted garlic, salt, pepper, and pine nuts.
~Add sliced carrots to the Broth
~Add raisins in the last 15 minutes

Bake uncovered for 1 hour on 425°

Ours' turned out perfectly! The carrots were perfectly soft and flavorful, and the roast was very flavorful.

Serve with loaded mashed potatoes, and a side salad with pear, raisins, pine nuts, and creamy balsamic vinaigrette.

SIMPLE creamy asparagus and penne pasta

1/2- 3/4 box small penne pasta
1 bunch asparagus
3 chicken breasts
1 1/2 tbsp. butter
2 tbs. flour
1/4 c. cream
garlic salt, to taste
3 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, steam the asparagus (chop off the ends, then cut into thirds.)

Add chicken breasts to 1 tsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter. Cook 7-8 minutes, rotating as you go. Add garlic salt and dried onion (as it cooks, or at the end).

You might want to cut the chicken into pieces— especially if it is thick.

After transferring chicken, pasta, and asparagus to a baking dish, make your cream sauce. Start with a roux.  Melt the butter, and add flour as it melts.  Slowly add 1/4 c. cream, may need more butter and/or cream to reach desired thickness.  At the end, add 2 tbsp. of parmesan cheese and stir until the cheese is melted through.

Add sauce to the pasta, chicken, and asparagus, and add the rest of your parmesan to the top. Put in a 350 oven for 15 minutes. Turn to broil and cook for 5-10 more minutes, watching so it doesn’t burn!

I had to quick stop and write this down the other night after I made it. I adapted it loosely from a recipe I found on Cooking Classy (correction: Nell found it and linked to it on her blog). In the interest of honesty rather than full disclosure, I tried that exact recipe with the bacon and it took me no less than 2 AND A HALF hours to make.  So I recreated it as SIMPLE creamy asparagus and penne pasta and wa-la. Here it is. SO GOOD. This is at most a 30 minute meal- promise.

The Perfect Pregnancy Smoothie

As you know, Stephen and I are really into making juice in our juicer, and smoothies, peanut butter, and desserts in our Vitamix. I have tried a lot of variations of smoothies in my day.  I have to say, though, that this was THE BEST smoothie I have ever tasted. Yum, yum, yum.

Mango Smoothie (with mango nectar)

1/2 bag frozen mango chunks
1 c. strawberry yogurt
1 c. milk
1c. mango nectar
ice
2 bananas

another alternative: I found the Jamba juice mixer at Publix. It makes all the difference in taste, and the fun thing is, I didn't have any yogurt on hand, but the bag included cubed frozen yogurt, so it didn't matter. The extra bananas make it sweeter and fill it chock full of potassium.


Peachy Strawberry Smoothie (with peach nectar)

1 bag Jamba All Natural Smoothies Mix (contains frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, and frozen yogurt cubes- no alcohol! ) 

2 cans peach nectar

2 sliced frozen bananas

Put all in Vitamix and turn to Smoothies program. Press start and wait until the cycle is finished.

Don't forget the peach nectar- so good!

Enjoy!