Gerry Krueger's legendary luscious lemon sponge tart....

I guarantee that this dessert will become a legend among the lemon lovers of your friends and family.  The sponge is like eating a lemon cloud.

Put a pie crust in 10" tart pan with removable bottom (I use either a high sided 10" or lower sided 11-12" one.  Put crust to top of sides. 



Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
6 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
2 T. lemon zest
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 T. butter, melted
1/2 t. salt
2 cup milk
4 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix together the sugar and flour
Add the lemon juice and zest, eggs yolks, butter and salt.  Mix well.  Mix in the milk. (This batter will seem impossibly thin but that is how it is)

Using clean beaters and bowl, beat egg whites until firm: fold gently into batter.

Pour into prepared pan  Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 300 degrees, and bake for an additional 45 or until the top is golden and the sponge filling springs back to a  light touch

Meantime prepare lemon curd and chill it.  Spread on top of cooled sponge.  Sprinkled with slivered almonds. (optional)

Lemon Curd (This will always be your "go-to" recipe for lemon curd...the absolute best.  I make it and put it in small jars for hostess gifts.)

1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
2 t. finely grated lemon zest
1/2 c.  sugar
3 large eggs and 1 egg yolk
6 T. butter cut into bits

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in 2-quart heavy saucepan.  Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly until curd is thick and the first bubbles appear on the surface, about 6 minutes.  At this point I put it through a fine sieve into a bowl and chill, covered with plastic wrap  When both  tart and curd are chilled spread curd on top of sponge tart.

Tart is best served chilled and can even be made ahead, frozen, and served slightly thawed...

Culinary tidbits and a squash bomb!!!!

I hate trying to peel or cut up a squash so for the last 60 years I have prepared squash the same way... baking it whole.  I stick the whole squash in the oven on a low temperature and when I can pierce the skin with a fork, I remove it, easily cut it in half and scoop out seeds and pulp... works like a charm... But yesterday I was roasting a squash in this manner and heard a big KABOOM and found this mess in my oven... I just shut the oven door and hoping the next time I open it the mess will have disappeared.
Obviously from now on I will wrap the squash in foil first. I had laundry baskets full of squash from the garden this year and I bake one every few days as a treat for the chickens...they just love it...


 The only TV I have is in my workroom and I have it on when I paint buttons so I really only listen to it....and it is mostly on the food channel and invariably I'm inspired to cook something different.  Just recently it was seedless red grapes which I love.  But a chef roasted them and served them with salmon and a cream sauce..... I had never thought to roast them but they were absolutely delicious. It made me think of other ways to use them and with roast pork came to mind first. But  Epicurious magazine has a whole web page on ways to use roasted grapes.  I will definitely try them on crostini with ricotta or goat cheese but what sounded the best was warm roasted red grapes on ice cream... I can almost taste the warm sweet grapes on cold ice cream......

In my freezer I have a lot of rockfish  from my son ...  It is a white fish and I usually serve it with roasted sweet potatoes but am always looking for an alternate side dish that is colorful and I want to try one I saw on TV yesterday.  It's a dish from northern Italy .... beet gnocchi with brown butter and sage.

I have to admit two things.... first I absolutely love gnocchi and second I fail miserably every time I make it.  My dear friend Cristina makes gnocchi that is light and fluffy and melts in your mouth.  Mine is more like gummy lumps of dough..  but I keep trying.  Cristina even gave me a lesson on gnocchi one Sunday and shared all her tips.  I blogged about it several years ago.

I love it when she sends me home with a bag of frozen gnocchi but she is wintering in California so I'm on my own.  This recipe calls for an egg and Cristina would laugh as she says only Americans put an egg in gnocchi..  I roasted the beets yesterday and think I will give it a try tomorrow.  Wish me luck....

Grand 2016 Scone Bake-Off

When DH and I were first married he would order a scone any time they were available at a bakery...in fact he still does.  I tried them occasionally but always found them dry and tasteless.  I even tried on several occasions to bake them myself but they too were dry and tasteless...

When we were in Seaside someone told DH about a wonderful small bakery (the Sea Level)  in the neighboring town of Cannon Beach so early one morning we drove there and ordered scones..  Much to my amazement they were moist, flaky and absolutely delicious.  I had to recant every single derogatory thing I've ever said about scones.

On my return home I vowed to be able to bake just such scones...  I started with this recipe and they were indeed as delicious as the ones in Cannon Beach..

  This recipe was.. "the World's Best Scones! From Scotland to the Savoy"  I used raisins and walnuts in this batch.  The bakery's scones had just a bit of rosemary in them and since mine is so lovely now I added some fresh from the garden....

I believe part of their success was due to a few extra tips   I found as I was researching recipes.  All recipes cautioned about overworking the dough but I did find specific instructions on handling the dough with a bench scraper and gently folding it.  The second tip was freezing the butter and grating it into the flour mixture.  And the final tip was once the dough was cut and on a baking sheet to stick it in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking to achieve a better rise.  These tips seemed to help.

Of course DH has graciously offered to be the official taste tester and I have gathered the following list of scone recipes to begin with.

Apple Cinnamon Scones
English Royalty Chocolate/Orange Scones
Poppy Seed Lemon Scones
Chef John's Pumpkin Scones
Chocolate Hazelnut Ricotta Scones

Meanwhile Morris patiently waits
for a scone to leap off the pan into
his mouth..

I figure that this is a worthwhile winter project.  If anyone has a favorite scone recipe that I should try....do indeed send it to me.  I will keep you posted as I progress and maybe even get DH to share his thoughts.

GREAT dinner tonite

This has been a bumper year for squash and everywhere we go someone sends us home with one.. A friend gave us this little one (about 10" across)  and I stuffed it for tonight's dinner.... I used some of the squash from the top and added about 2 cups cooked Italian sausage, 2 cups bread crumbs (I used a seedy whole grain bread) 1 onion  chopped, 1 apple chopped and a handful of dried cranberries... I add a tad of orange juice for a bit of moisture... When it was baked I topped with grated parmesan cheese.  It was fabulous and now I need to find another one...  I baked it in the oven but the next time I fix it I'll pop it in the slow cooker.

Life is a bowl of lemons.....

Posts related to lemons are a recurring thing on my blog because I am a sucker for those 5 lb bags of lemons at Costco and then have to bake like crazy to use them up.   ALWAYS at the top of the list is my Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake which I usually make in loaf pans for breakfast treats and hostess gifts....

Next  is always "Crisp Lemon Pecan Oatmeal Sugar Cookies" which are thin, buttery, crisp, to-die-for cookies.

I have been searching for a long time for the perfect lemon pie recipe.  My search is over as this  is the best lemon pie I have made in 50+ years of baking,  I will never use another recipe.    I took it to a Christmas potluck and the pie plate was licked clean and everyone raved about it...  But beware it has 437 calories per serving...

Sour Cream Lemon Pie
..

• Prep: 20 min. + chilling
• Yield: 8 Servings

2020

Ingredients

• Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 cup (8 ounces)   Sour Cream
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. Trim pastry to 1/2 in. beyond rim of plate; flute edge.
• Line unpricked pastry with a double thickness of foil. Fill with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake 8 minutes or until bottom is lightly browned. Remove foil and weights; bake 5-7 minutes longer or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
• In a large heavy saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in milk and lemon juice until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat.
• In a small bowl, whisk a small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; return all to the pan, whisking constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in butter and lemon peel. Cool without stirring.
• Stir in sour cream. Add filling to crust. Top with whipped cream. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 8 servings.

We had halibut cakes, shrimp and lemon risotto (plus salad and roasted beets) for Christmas Day dinner and that finished off the lemons.

Fabulous Veggie Recipe

I was gathering recipes to send to the retreat ladies and thought I'd share this one.... On the first day I baked a ham and served roasted potatoes ..  Everyone wanted to know how I did the potatoes... And the secret is..................... this seasoning packet.

 I use either yukon gold or red potatoes - unpeeled - cut up, put in a plastic bag and add enough olive oil to coat and add this packet.....spread on foil in a shallow pan and roast at 400 degrees until tender... I'm not much into seasoning packets but I LOVE this one and not only use it on potatoes but other roasted veggies and fish as well...

My favorite veggie recipe for holidays and large groups is  a  mix  of butternut squash, peppers, carrots and onions all fixed the same way with the seasoning packet and roasted.. a real winner.....

Another confession

All my life I have loved liver...of any kind but my very favorite are chicken livers... dredged  in seasoned flour and cooked with sherry (or brandy), green onions, mushrooms, bacon and finished with a generous dollop of sour cream..  I always have a meal of this when DH is out of town because he would rather starve then have to look at (let alone eat)  a plate of it..

BUT whenever we are having a party or taking an appetizer to any event he immediately requests I make my famous (well sorta famous) pate which everyone, including him, raves about... Well he has never made the connection but you can guess that the pate is the very same chicken livers... dredged in seasoned flour and cooked with sherry (or brandy), green onions, mushrooms, bacon and finished with a generous dollop of sour cream AND THEN put in the food processor until smooth...

Here is my recipe but obviously you don't want a meal of this before you go in for a cholesterol check.


Sauteed Chicken Livers

Ingredients
1 lb chicken livers, cut in half & washed & patted dry
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced thin
3/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
 1/4 cup seasoned flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh coarse ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup chicken broth or 1 cup vegetable broth or 1 cup beef broth
1/2 cup  brandy or sherry wine, good quality
2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
 chopped fresh parsley leaves, garnish
1/2 cup cooked bacon ( crispy & crumbled)

Directions
Dredge  livers with   flour seasoned with  salt and pepper
Saute chicken livers in 2 Tablespoons butter, 5 minutes or until brown but still pink inside.
Remove livers, and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet.
Add other tablespoon butter, if necessary.
Saute mushrooms and green onions in drippings
 Add broth and brandy (or sherry) , bring to a boil and  reduce heat to a simmer and cook until liquid has reduced to about 1 cup
Add chicken livers and 1/2 sour cream and simmer about 3 additional minutes.
 Sprinkle with parsley and crisp bacon...

To serve as a pate process until smooth.  If you are making this ahead as a pate, put it into a ramekin and pour a layer of melted butter over the top to seal it until served. And don't tell my husband.

I do the dinner....he does the clean up..

DH (my party animal) is at it again...  This time I didn't have to negotiate because we'll have appetizers on the deck so he's been pulling weeds like crazy... Works for me...

Fifty years ago I started collecting Vernon Rose pottery by Metlox ... setting by setting, piece by piece... and ended up with a service for 12 and still love it... It's not dishwasher friendly so whenever used, it has to be washed by hand.  Both the pink salad plates and goblets are vintage French and I've had them for years.  The little crystal bowls were from New Zealand and I'll serve  chilled avocado soup in them...   I do love being able to use all the stuff I've gathered  on our travels the last 50 years.  We never bought souvenirs or touristy things... just one nice thing for the table each trip...  So setting the table for a nice dinner is a trip down memory lane.

The guests are old friends from when we belonged to a dinner group.  We were all like minded... we loved to cook and loved to use all the "good dishes."  So when we get together with them we DO dinner...

Appetizers:
Prosciutto & Gruyere Pinwheels
Sauteed Baby Scallops
Melon Balls

Soup:  Chilled Avocado Soup garnished with green pumpkin seeds and roasted sweet peppers.
Salad:  Mango, Cucumbers and Spring Greens (new recipe from last weekend's paper)

Main Course:  Baked halibut (new recipe from allrecipes.com) served over creamy shrimp risotto (old recipe) and   Roasted Asparagus

Dessert:  Fresh Peach and Blueberry Tart.  (an old recipe from DH's aunt... fruit is arranged over a sour cream filling.  A real showstopper)

DH is in charge of all the wines and ALL the clean up...

A culinary happening...

On rare occasions I post a recipe but this one is so loose it stretches the term recipe which implies specific quantities etc... But this was soooooooooooo good you must try it...
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I "chunked":
2 medium/large butternut squash
2-3 large potatoes (unpeeled)
6-8 large carrots
several sweet peppers (I used yellow, orange and red ones)

I drizzled it all with olive oil and sprinkled it with "McCormick's Toasted Onion and Garlic Potato Seasoning Mix" and roasted at 350 degrees until tender.

Meanwhile in my big soup kettle I sauteed 1 large onion and a bunch of celery chopped... After all cooled a bit I put everything into the food processor in batches and pureed...and all back in the kettle... Then I added about 2 T. sea salt, 2 cups of whipping cream and about 4-6 cups of milk to desired soupiness. Do not leave out the seasoning mix as that is the killer ingredient!!!! And of course you could substitute organic veggie broth for the whipped cream and milk....but not at my house..


I topped it with crumbled blue cheese and FRESH chives. It was simply one of the best soups ever...



It is officially spring for me when I can pull aside last fall's dried leaves and grass under my old apple tree and find chives sprouting... I put them on everything while they are so tender...

(I just knew spell check would tell me that "soupiness" was not a word and it did.... but I bet every single reader knew exactly what I meant so it should be a word.....)

Lemonade not my first choice....

Strolling through Costco Monday I had a craving for something lemon and grabbed a 5lb bag. Then when I got home I vaguely recalled I've done this before and how much baking I had to do to use up a 5lb bag because I'm not a fan of lemonade...

So yesterday afternoon I started with this recipe....Crisp Lemon Sugar Cookies. Of course I had to add a cup of finely chopped pecans and 1/2 cup of oatmeal whizzed in a processor. So they became "Crisp Lemon Pecan Oatmeal Sugar Cookies"

They are a great cookie but not as lemony as I would like so next time I will up the extract and lemon zest...

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest (or more)
2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Optional My additions:
1 cup of finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup of oatmeal whizzed in a processor.
Additional sugar
Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and
fluffy. Beat in egg, lemon juice, zest and extracts. Combine the flour, salt and
baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. (opt: Stir in oatmeal and nuts)

Shape into 1-in. balls or drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart
onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.
Bake at 400° for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Immediately remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: about 5 dozen.

Note: I baked them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes instead....

Last night I made a double batch of lemon curd and a Lemon Sponge Tart.... Used only about 1/3 of the lemons... For sure I'll want to make some Lemon Gelato and mini-loaves of Sour Cream Lemon Pound Cake...(recipe here http://olderrose.blogspot.com/search/label/recipe ) You can make a lot of stuff with 5 lbs of lemons....

The cake I didn't bake!

I was at a bridge party the other day and I heard someone in the other room say they just had to get Gerry's "Rhubarb Custard Cake" recipe that she made last year and some else said "OMG that was so good" and all agreed.... I'm saying "Gerry who?" and "What cake/" because I have lots of rhubarb. They kept insisting I had brought it and I swore I had NO recipe for any such cake...

Finally Jane said I had sent the recipe to her and she would send it back to me!! ...and she did... It must have been something I did on a whim from a newspaper recipe because I do not have the recipe and don't remember baking it...

But it's easy and good and still hoping it will all come back to me! Here's the recipe via Jane

" Gerry, here's your recipe for the delicious rhubarb custard cake."

Turn oven on to 350 degrees.

1 yellow cake mix (fixed according to directions on box)

Put in 9 x 12" pan.

Sprinkle on top:

4 cups cut rhubarb
1 1/2 cup sugar

Pour over all:
2 cups whipping cream

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Enjoy!!

Grand Morning!!

Molly and I had a grand morning... We had our walk, fixed the pasture gates, transplanted daffodils and even moved a rose... But I use the cordless drill in the pasture and when the charge runs down it's a message from my garden good witch to quit...... in fact Molly came straight into the house and jumped on the bed....which is her message that it's time for a nap....

Just a word about daffs tho....The clump on the left is from one daffodil.....the kind of daffodils poets talk about when they mention "fields of daffodils" In catalogs they're sold for naturalizing... They do seed and multiply.. and from one clump I get about 100 bulblets about the size of a green onion.. I can divide them in the spring like this and it may take a couple years but they will all bloom. I have given buckets of them away this spring and I hope to get some moved every day....

In addition I remembered to dig a sucker from my Harison Rose which is in the back of the garden where I never get to see it... This is the wild, once-blooming rose you see on roadsides and abandoned farms across the county... The barn and house have collapsed and the rose survives.... It forms a huge, thorny thicket and is impossible to propagate from cuttings... I went out with pruners and a shovel to dig some suckers but had forgotten how thorny it was... Dug one and will do more tomorrow when I take heavy gloves. I want some closer to the house so I can enjoy them.... Here I come Molly!!!!!!

Goldfinches, daffodils and memory lane..

If I have to choose "fun or formal", I choose fun every time... It only the rarest of occasions that I use "good" china anymore. These yellow plates are vintage and I've collected them over the years. Almost every one is a slightly different color. Cathy K. has the same ones and she got hers as a wedding gift in 1974... Some of mine say buttercup federalist on the back and some say lemon federalist.

The tablecloth, candles, candle sticks, napkins are all thrift stores finds. The white salad dishes and goblets are from the dollar store....my all-time-favorite place to shop for dishes and glasses... They're usually "seconds" of name brands.

The rest of the place setting is "memory lane". When we did travel we didn't bring home souvenirs as such. I allowed myself one nice addition for the table from each trip. So when I set a table many memories return... The gold and clear glass bread plates were from an antique store in NZ.. The butter knives were from a market in Istanbul. The dessert forks were from Paris... The salt cellars from England. But my all-time-favorites are the cut-crystal knife rests I purchased in Amsterdam... Every time I use these special things I can remember that trip, the shop and even the weather at the time...

The one constant is my sterling silverware which I treasure because I bought it a setting at a time when I was still in high school... That was close to sixty years ago and a place setting was about $15 at the time and I was making fifty cents an hour working after school and Saturdays..

At a dinner 2 weeks ago one of the guests was allergic to wheat so I started looking at recipes for flourless chocolate. Most were baked in a water-bath and had 7-8 eggs but this recipe was so simple and easy. AND it was so delicious that I made it again for the dinner party last night.... I served it with fresh raspberries and a dollop of ice cream.... It's very "fudgy and rich"


Flourless Chocolate Cake
Gourmet November 1997
yield: Makes one 8-inch cake
Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.

Ingredients
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened) (I just used chocolate chips...)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper.
Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.
Dust cake with additional cocoa powder and serve with sorbet if desired. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.)
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Flourless-Chocolate-Cake-14478#ixzz0iA3ddQC4

Mother Krueger's Sour Cream Rolls......

For those who asked here's the recipe for the husband-pleasing sour cream rolls..

First I should add that you need to really love someone to make these as they are time consuming and messy...

Years ago I combined this little watercolor I did of her making the recipe, a little story, and a mini-biography. I framed copies for her children.....then her grandchildren..... and now her great and great-great grandchildren. If you have a family recipe that is associated with one family member, this makes a nice Christmas gift. I blogged about it before but you can see it here...

http://olderrose.blogspot.com/2008/09/recipe-for-christmas.html

Mother Krueger's Sour Cream Rolls
Note from husband: DO NOT SUBSTITUE ANYTHING ELSE FOR THE BUTTER!!!!

Ingredients
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup REAL BUTTER
3-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups sugar
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Cut butter into mixture of flour and salt. Add yeast, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly; cover with a damp cloth or sarn. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
Turn half of dough out onto a board sugared with 1/2 cup sugar. Roll into an 8 x 16-inch rectangle. Fold ends toward center, sprinkle with sugar and roll again. Repeat twice, using half the sugar. Roll about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 1 x 4-inch strips. Twist ends in opposite directions, stretching slightly. Tie in a losse knowt, dip in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until delicately browned. Remove from cookie sheets immediately. Makes: 1-1/2 to 2 dozen.

Notes.

1. Because they are so time consuming I ALWAYS double this recipe.

2. There is NO sugar in the dough itself... It is rolled out in sugar which makes them so deliciously crisp and yummy...but also very messy to make.

3. Because of the sugar on the outside of the rolls they burn very quickly so watch closely.

4. The is a traditional German recipe and often found in community cookbooks in areas settled by Germans at the turn of the century.

Best Pumpkin Bread Recipe Ever

This is the best pumpkin bread ever... During the spring and summer I keep a supply of lemon breads in the freezer for hostess gifts but during this season I bake up a lot a little loaves of pumpkin bread. This was a new recipe to me but now it is my very favorite...and easy also... I doubled it..... Do try it!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (1/4 L) pumpkin
1/2 cup (1 dL) olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup (1 dL) chopped walnuts

Method


1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
2. Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.
3. Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.
Makes one loaf. Can easily double the recipe.

Melt-in-your-mouth Pork Loin in Slow Cooker

Melt-in-your-mouth Pork Loin in Crock Pot

I think the secret to this easy recipe is the caramelized onions. When I caramelize onions I always do a lot extra because you can freeze them. Caramelizing onions by slowly cooking them in a little olive oil until they are richly browned makes the result intensely and wonderfully flavorful. If you've never done it here is a great video on the process. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_caramelize_onions/

Ingredients:

*Caramelized onions (3 or 4 large yellow onions)

pork loin (whatever size you need or fits your cooker)

1 pkg dried onion soup (like Liptons)

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms.

Slice and slowly caramelize onions in 2 T olive oil over medium heat, stirring often. Allow plenty of onions as they shrink as they cook and remember they can burn easily at the end of the process so watch closely as they start to brown.

Put caramelized onions in the bottom of the crock pot, lay the pork loin on top. Sprinkle with onion soup mix and mushroom... Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours... I add no liquid because juices from onions and meat are sufficient... Sometimes I brown the loin first...... I serve it over thick homemade style egg noodles "Country Pasta" available at WalMart. Once it's in the pot spend the day stitching or shopping for stash......

*You can caramelize any type of onion, but depending on their sugar content, some might caramelize more quickly than others. A standard yellow onion is just fine--it actually contains more sugars than "sweet" onions. Caramelized onions are terrific served as a garnish in soups, on sandwiches,on pizza, in omelettes, and in the middle of grilled cheese sandwiches

TIP: Put a burning candle or two next to where you are chopping onions and it will help with the onions fumes...

Homemade Granola

These are large baking sheets of the toasted oat mixture cooling before I add the dried fruits....The house smells marvelous.

You may think that granola is an odd thing to make and pack all the way to Colorado in your suitcase, but you haven't tasted my granola... I start with rolled oats. wheat germ, flax meal, raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seed, almonds and walnuts...add 1 pt oil to 1 1/2 parts raw honey. Lightly coat oat mixture and toast in oven..

THEN I add dried cherries, blueberries, cranberries, raisins, dates and apricots.... My secret ingredient is Chinese 5 spice.... Of course I had to make 2 double batches as no way was my DH going to let me take some to CO and not leave him as much at least...

Menu for Daffodil Tea for "Valley Girls"

Sometime back I joined the Spokane Valley Senior Center and started playing bridge with my "Valley Girls." They are not only friendly, positive, warm, and intelligent.....they are FUNNY!! It was a day of good bridge and lots and lots of laughter!!!

Daffodil Tea Menu

Coffee

Rose Mint Tea

Lemon Bread

Mango Tarts

Apricot, White Chocolate Scones with Pecans

Main Course

Chicken & Artichokes in Filo

Roasted Asparagus & Garlic

Fruit Kabob

Dessert

Coconut Pound Cake with

Strawberries dipped in Chocolate

Note: I added a photo of the Mango Tarts a few posts back....

Apricot, white chocolate scones with pecans

I'm not a lover of scones but my husband is so I make them often. This is by far my favorite receipe, not only because they are delicious, but because they freeze beautifully. I baked them this morning for the tea on Monday. Popped them in the freezer and I can stick them in the warming oven Monday just before guests arrive and they will taste fresh baked...... Of course you can substitute any dried fruit or nut of your choice....

Ingredients:
2 cup All-purpose flour
1/3 cup Granulated sugar
2 teaspoons Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled
1/2 cup Heavy (whipping) cream
1 lg Egg
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1/2 cup White chocolate, cut into chunks or chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup Finely chopped dried apricots
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes and distribute them over the flour mixture.With a pastry blender or two knives used scissors fashion, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs
In a small bowl, stir together the cream, egg, and vanilla. Add the cream mixture to the flour mixture and knead until combined. Knead in the white chocolate, pecans, and apricots.With lightly floured hands, pat the dough out on a floured work surface to a thickness of 5/8 inch. I cut in squares and then the squares into triangles. .Bake scones on ungreased baking sheet for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Place baking sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer scones to wire rack to cool. Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container.Makes 8 or 9 large scones. or a dozen smaller scones....

I always double the receipe!!!!!

Mango Curd Update

Received the following question from Cobi:

"I assume the t and T stand for tablespoon and teaspoon, but which is which? thank you for sharing the recipe. btw could I use another fresh mango instead of the dried one? we don't have them dried here."

I should have thought of the abbreviation thing Cobi...I'm sorry... T. = 1 tablespoon and t.= 1 teaspoon.

Yes, by all means use fresh instead of dried mangos. The internet receipes all use just fresh. I used the dried because the flavor is so intensified in dried fruit and I was trying to increase the mango flavor.

Added note: Online receipes all called for putting the cooked pulp through a sieve to get a clearer end result. But I like the texture of the mangos in the curd so I skipped the sieve part....

I had some on my toast this morning and it was yummy.....