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These cookies are so sooo good. They are not overly sweet but still have the right amount of sweetness; you can also taste the nuts in the cookie dough. You can go ahead and use any kind of nuts you like. The original recipe uses only almonds but I used half almonds and half hazelnuts. These pretty jam filled cookies take a little extra effort, but the results are so sweet.

Ingredients:

Yield: 3 dozen

1 ¼ cups butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 cups all- purpose flour

1 tbsp. cocoa powder

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1 cup ground almonds

1 cup ground hazelnuts

6 tbsp. seedless raspberry jam

3 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

 **** you can make your own ground nuts but processing it in food processor by pulsing until they reach the right consistency. Make sure not to over process or oils will be released from nuts and it will become more of a paste form.

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beating well after each addition.

Combine the flour, cocoa, salt and spices; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Stir in nuts. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with with floured cookie cutters and then cut half of the cut out cookies with a smaller cookie cutter in the center.

Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in a 350° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Spread the bottom of each solid cookie with about t/2 tsp. jam. Sprinkle the cutout cookies with the confections’ sugar and place carefully over jam.

 Source: Taste of Home Magazine

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Who doesn’t like candy ….I think one way or the other all of us not only children love candy. This peanut brittle has a kick from cayenne pepper that all of you will love, even if you do not like spicy hot food , you will like the kick you will get from this peanut brittle. Feel free to substitute peanuts to any kind of nuts you like originally this recipe uses cashews.  Once you start a batch of candy do not leave it, accuracy in temperature is needed to ensure right consistency. Cool weather is the best time to make candy because humidity will make candy makes candy stick together.

Ingredients:

Yields 2 ¼ Lbs.

1 tbsp. plus 1 cup butter divided cut into cubes.

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup water

2 cups salted dry roasted peanuts

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Directions:

Butter 15-in x 10-in x 1-in baking pan with 1 tbsp. butter set aside.

In a large sauce pan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat; add butter cubes carefully stir into the syrup.

Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 280°F.

Add peanuts, cook and stir until thermometer reads 295°F.

Remove from the heat, Stir in the baking soda and immediately pour into the prepared greased pan.

Cool and break into pieces and store in airtight container.

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This dish has tons of flavors, ginger and garlic give the tenderloin strips a kick and the red pepper adds a fresh taste. Feel free to add other vegetables when you add the pepper and if you like it spicy add some red pepper flakes. This dish is also great for people who want to make a quick meal on a weekday.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

1 Lb. Tenderloin steaks cut across the grain into strips

2 tbsp. flour

6 garlic cloves minced

1 tbsp. fresh ginger minced

2 cups red pepper cut into strips

1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable or corn oil

1 cup beef broth

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Combine flour, salt, black pepper, ginger and garlic. Toss tenderloin strips with the flour mixture until well coated.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add beef to the pan, sauté for about 3 minutes until browned on all sides.

Add bell pepper and beef broth cover and cook for 7 minutes or until peppers are crisp tender and broth is absorbed stirring occasionally.

Adapted from The Best of Cooking Light

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I’m happy to be back here again. I know it has been a while now since my last post, but let me tell you it was crazy the past few weeks. First my husband and I went on a vacation to the Caribbean, and then I moved from Alabama back to Michigan. It took me a while to get settled and get everything done since my husband couldn’t be with me during the move and I had to do everything by myself.

Now back to our recipe, originally this recipe is for a stew but I made some adjustments and turned it into a soup. For those of you who like butternut squash, you will love this soup, it is spicy and full of flavor and perfect in this cold weather. Don’t skip on the yogurt drizzle, it perfectly completes this soup.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. corn or vegetable oil

1 onion chopped

1 tbsp. curry powder

1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger

1  butternut squash peeled and cut in big cubes

1 ½ cup chicken broth

Salt and black pepper to taste

For the yogurt drizzle:

½ cup Greek yogurt

1 garlic clove minced

1 tbsp. fresh mint chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Put the oil in a pot with a tight-fitting lid over medium high heat. When hot, add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add the curry and the ginger and cook until the onions just starts to brown, about 2 minutes.

Add the squash, 1 cup chicken broth, salt and black pepper. Bring to boil, cover and turn the heat down to low.

Cook stirring once or twice until squash is tender about 30 minutes.

Puree the squash mixture with hand held blender or in blender. Return the puree back to the pot, add the remaining ½ cup chicken broth and cook just until heated through.

Serve hot and drizzle with the yogurt drizzle. (Recipe follows)

To make the yogurt drizzle just mix the all the ingredients until well mixed.

Source: How to cook Everything

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This potato soup is so good that won’t get enough of. It is so creamy and full of flavor. With a piece of bread with this soup and you will have a great lunch.

Ingredients:

Serves 4-5

4 medium potatoes peeled and diced (about 3 cups)

½ cup diced onions

2 ½ tbsp.butter

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

½ cup heavy whipping cream

1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cubes chicken stock bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 liter water (4 cups) if using bouillon granules use the amount enough to dissolve in 1 liter according to the package directions.

Directions:

In a pot, combine the diced potatoes with the water that was combined with chicken stock bouillon cubes. Bring to boil cover and reduce heat to medium.

Cook potatoes until tender about 15 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, scoop 1 cup of diced potatoes and put aside. And put the rest of the broth and potatoes aside in a bowl or you can keep them in the same pot if you are planning to use another pot for the rest of the recipe.

Over medium heat, melt butter and sauté onions for about 1 minute. Add flour and stir it until the onions are well coated.

Add the potatoes and the broth to the pot (do not add the 1 cup potatoes we reserved aside before). Cook for 5 minutes.

With handheld blender, blend the potatoes, broth and onions in the pot until it is well blended and creamy.

Reduce heat to low and add the cream, cheese and the 1 cup reserved diced potatoes and stir until the cheese melts and everything is well combined.

]]> http://www.lovecookandeat.com/2011/11/creamypotatosoup/feed/ 0 http://www.lovecookandeat.com/2011/11/pansearedsalmonwithmushroomsauce/ http://www.lovecookandeat.com/2011/11/pansearedsalmonwithmushroomsauce/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:04:54 +0000 Nadine http://www.lovecookandeat.com/?p=1038

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Both my husband and I are from Lebanon and we used to live near the coast, so we are used to eat fresh seafood.  We now live in Tuscaloosa Alabama and before we used to live in Michigan and in both states we are not able to really get fresh fish from the ocean. I got used to eating frozen and sometimes what they claim to be fresh fish, but my husband still doesn’t like it, he still compares it to the fresh fish he used to eat in Lebanon and I agree with him there is no comparison between fresh and frozen fish. When we were on a vacation in Florida one time, all we ate is fish because we were happy that we were able to eat fresh fish again. Salmon is one of the fish that he doesn’t mind eating from time to time, that’s why you probably will see salmon the most in the seafood category. This dish is really good, I didn’t think the mushroom sauce with go that well with the salmon but it did and it was very delicious. I served it with some asparagus that I sautéed with garlic and lemon zest. Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients:

5 Salmon fillets

3 caps portabella mushroom cut to big bite pieces

2 springs of fresh rosemary (leaves finely chopped)

1/3 cup finely diced onions

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

½ cup heavy cream

1 ½ cups chicken broth

Salt and black pepper

Directions:

Salt and pepper the salmon fillets. In a large nonstick skillet over high medium heat, melt 1 tbsp. butter with 1 tbsp. oil.

Put Salmon fillets in the skillet, reduce heat to medium and cook until browned on each side about 4-5 minutes on each side.( Sometimes I cook mine longer cause I like the really well done).

When Salmon fillets are done, transfer them to a plate and keep warm.

To make sauce, heat the remaining 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. oil over medium heat.

Sauté onions until translucent about 3 minutes, the add garlic and keep sautéing about 30 seconds. Add the mushrooms; rosemary, salt and black pepper keep cooking until mushrooms are tender about 5 minutes.

Add broth bring to boil, cover and reduce heat back to medium. And let simmer about 5 minutes.

Add cream and let the sauce cook until thickened for few minutes. Put Salmon fillet and let them heat through with the sauce for couple minutes.

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I love bread so much, and if you are like me, you like dipping your bread with olive oil; you won’t need to   with this bread. This bread has so much flavor on its own that you can eat it like it is and be satisfied. The olives and oregano gives a great taste to this bread and they go so well with the flavor of the olive oil in the bread.

Ingredients:

Yields 1 huge boule or 2 round loaves

3 cups bread flour or all –purpose flour

2 tsp. instant yeast

2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup halved olives ( you can add more if you like )

½ to 1 tbsp. dried oregano

1 cup warm water

Directions:

Combine flour, yeast and salt in a food processor bowl (The recipe didn’t specify which blade to use, but personally I used the dough blade). Turn the machine on and add the olive oil through the feed tube followed by the water. Process for 30 seconds adding water a little at a time until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch.

Turn the dough on a floured surface and knead the olives and oregano in the dough. Form a smooth ball and put it in greased bowl cover and put in a warm place. Let rise for 1 to 2 hours until it doubles in size or you can let it rise slowly in the fridge overnight.

After the dough rises divide it if you want or leave it as whole, sprinkle some flour and form a ball. Cover again and let it rise until it puffs about 20 minutes.

Pinch the bottom of the ball to seal the seam as much as you can, sprinkle all over with flour and put on put on a well-floured wooden board, pizza peal or baking sheet. Cover and let rest again for 1 hour preferably 2 hours.

Heat oven with pizza stone on the bottom rack to 425°.  Slash your dough with a sharp knife. Slide your dough on the pizza stone, or place the baking sheet directly in the oven.

Bake until the bread just beginning to brown, reduce heat to 375°. Bake until the crust is golden brown for about 40-60 minutes. Remove a cool on wire rack.

Source: How To Cook Everything

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Lately I was trying to find a way to get the crispy crunch you get when you fry wings by baking them in the oven. And I came upon the site serious eats where they did some experimenting and found out the best way to bake chicken wings but still get that crispy crunch you get from frying. The secret is baking powder and long period of time in the fridge. These were were really so crunchy so no need for the extra fat and mess from frying.

Ingredients:

12 wings

1 ½ tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. paprika

Pinch of garlic powder

½ cup melted butter

½ cup hot sauce

Cooking spay

Directions:

Rub the wings with half a lemon and then Rinse well.

Place wings on paper towel and dry completely.

After wings are completely dry, coat wings with baking powder.

Place wings in the fridge for at least 4 hours, the longer the better, you can even leave them overnight.

Preheat oven to 425° and place a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil while the oven is heating. (This will prevent you wings to stick to the sheet).

When the oven is ready, spray your baking sheet and place wings.

Bake wings for 45minutes to 1 hour or until golden brown.

While the wings are baking, prepare your sauce. Mix melted butter,hot sauce,salt,paprika and garlic powder.

When wings are done, toss wings with the sauce until well coated. ( Sauce should be cool  before tossing your wings to prevent the wings from getting soggy).

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I loved cooking long before I really started actually cooking and that was when I got married. Before that I used to cook every once in a while but nothing serious. My mom hated to see me in the kitchen because I used to make a mess while I’m cooking or baking something. I used to cut recipes from magazines and glue them to a notebook that I still have. This is one of the recipes that I kept for a long time, the original recipe calls for beans in the rice pilaf I omitted that because I’m not into beans that much, but you can sure add beans to your recipe. It is really delicious and you can eat with some Middle Eastern or Greek Yogurt on the side.

Ingredients:

Serves 4-5

For the Chicken:

2 large skinless boneless chicken breast ( about 1.

½ tsp. salt

3 tbsp. finely diced onions

3 tbsp. ground paprika

½ tsp. black pepper

½ tsp. chili powder or more

3 tbsp. vegetable, canola or corn oil

For the Rice Pilaf:

1 tbsp.  Olive oil

½ medium onion diced

2 garlic cloves minced

1 green pepper diced finely

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1 ½ cups white long grain rice (use 1 cup of rice if you like the vegetables and spices to be more noticeable)

¼ tsp. chili or more

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tbsp. lemon juice

3 cups water or chicken broth

1 tbsp. olive oil

½ tsp. salt

Directions:

To make Chicken:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Mix paprika, chili, onions, salt, black pepper, and oil.

Rub the mixture on the chicken breasts and put chicken on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

To make The Rice Pilaf:

In a pot, heat olive oil on a medium heat, sauté onions, garlic, corn, green pepper and spices for 3 minutes until fragrant.

Add rice, lemon juice and water or chicken broth. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to medium low and cook for about 20 minutes until all water is absorbed and rice is cooked and tender.

To serve slice chicken  breasts and lay over rice pilaf.

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Fall is here, and it’s pumpkin season why not another pumpkin recipe. Donuts is a weakness of mine, I usually don’t buy them, because I can eat half a dozen on my own. I prefer the yeast donuts more than cake donuts, that’s why I made these pumpkin cake donuts so I don’t end up gaining 10 pounds J The original recipe didn’t call for a glaze , so I made a cinnamon glaze and I’m glad I did because these donuts are not sweet enough on their own ,at least to my liking .

Ingredients:

Makes 27 small donuts

3 eggs lightly beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream

1 scant tsp. baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 nutmeg freshly grated

5 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Oil for frying

For Cinnamon Glaze

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

3-4 tbsp. milk

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except flour.

Add flour gradually and knead until dough comes together.( dough will be sticky)

Roll dough on a floured surface. And cut using a dough cutter. I don’t have one so I usually use a big cookie cutter and then a smaller one for the middle.

Heat oil to 350°, and fry donuts on both sides until golden.

Let them cool and then dip in glaze. (I usually double glaze my donuts wait few minutes between each dip)

To Make Glaze:

Mix powdered sugar, ground cinnamon, vanilla extract and milk until well mixed.

Source: The Best Farmer’s Wife Cookbook