Raspberry Caves

A raspberry cave is a Swedish short bread cookie filled with jam. I made these for an international-themed potluck at Mia's preschool several years back, and I have made them many times since. They are a favorite with Mr. J.

14 T butter, at room temperature
½-3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
1 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
raspberry jam (or use lingonberry, which is a Swedish favorite)
30 medium paper cups (I use regular muffin cups)

Heat the oven to 375° F.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour, combined with baking soda and cinnamon. Divide the dough into 30 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and put in a medium sized paper cup. With your finger, make an indention and fill it with jam.

Bake on a cookie sheet in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes.

Potato Salad

Made this today and it was just right. I really like the dill pickles and the ranch dressing in it, and the very subtle hint of mustard. Adapted from here.
Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 10 red potatoes
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing
• 1/3 cup chopped dill pickles or relish
• 1 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
• 2 celery stalks, diced

Directions

1. Place the eggs into a saucepan in a single layer and fill with water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let the eggs stand in the hot water for 15 minutes. Pour out the hot water; cool the eggs under cold running water in the sink. Peel and chop the cooled eggs.
2. Place the potatoes into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and refrigerate until cold. Peel and cube once cold.
3. Stir together the mayonnaise, ranch dressing, pickles, mustard, salt, pepper, paprika, and celery salt in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, potatoes, and celery; stir until evenly mixed. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.
   

Whole Wheat Bread

This is the bread we eat day in and day out around here. After several years of making it I have the recipe memorized and it only takes a few minutes for me to throw the ingredients in the bread maker, and later to shape the dough into a loaf. It's one of those little life pleasures that is worth the effort to me - for now at least!

Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/4 cup hot-ish water (not hot enough to kill the yeast--use your wrist to gage heat)
1/2 T yeast
2 1/3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup self-rising bread flour
1/6 cup oil
1/6 cup honey
1/2 T salt
1/2 T gluten (optional)

Measure ingredients into bread maker in the following order:
water
yeast
1 1/3 cup wheat flour
oil and honey
1 cup wheat flour
salt
1 cup self-rising flour
gluten (if using)

Mix on "dough" setting. After cycle is complete, shape dough into a loaf, place in greased bread pan, and let rise until doubled in size. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Brush top of finished loaf with butter. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from pan.

*Notes: For the oil and honey, I use a 1/3 cup measure and fill it half full with oil, then to the top with honey before dumping it all in. The honey slides right out that way and you don't have to scrape it.

Broccoli and Tortellini Salad

This salad is great for potlucks, baby showers, and such.

Salad Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1 1/4 lb. fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
• 2-3 heads broccoli, chopped into florets
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• red onion, finely chopped (to taste - I only use a little as it tends to be overpowering otherwise)

Dressing Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 t cider vinegar

Cook bacon, cool, and crumble. Cook tortellini for 8-10 minutes, drain, and rinse under cool water. Mix dressing ingredients. Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add dressing; toss. Serve chilled.

My Favorite Pizza Crust

{This time I made margherita pizza}

When it comes to dough, I am all about having my bread machine do most of the work whenever possible, which is one of the reasons I love this pizza crust recipe. The other reasons are: 1) it's delicious and 2) I can get two pizzas (one regular round and one slightly smaller) out of it.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Directions:

Combine water, olive oil, sugar, salt in pan of bread machine Add flour, then sprinkle garlic on flour. Lastly add yeast. Turn machine on dough cycle. As the dough mixes, sprinkle on oregano and basil until it suits you for color and taste.

Let mix for at least 20-30 minutes, then let the dough rest from 5 to 30 minutes (longer is better. To be honest I often just let it run the whole dough cycle which is 1 and 1/2 hours total).

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Divide dough and press into two pizza pans. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings, and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Tomato Basil Soup

I am huge fan of tomatoes and basil. The fresh tomatoes, basil, whipping cream, and butter make this soup taste so good and well, fresh! Fabulous. Original recipe here.

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes - peeled, seeded and diced (drop tomatoes in boiling water for a minute, then they peel easily)
4 cups tomato juice
14 leaves fresh basil
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Place tomatoes and juice in a stock pot over medium heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves, and return the puree to the stock pot. Place the pot over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Do not boil.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's what's for dinner this week. I'm trying to clean out the freezer and pantry a bit.

Spaghetti and meatballs, breadsticks (meatballs pre-cooked already in the freezer)
Split pea soup (leftover ham in the freezer to use up)
BBQ chicken pizza
Southwestern BBQ chicken salad (crock-pot cooking a bunch of chicken in BBQ sauce to use for this and the pizza)
Grilled salmon, baked potatoes
Chili (canned) and cornbread (the kind with creamed corn--I need to find a recipe)