Gingberbread Biscotti

"Oooooooh the weather outside is frightful, but the fiiire is so deliiightful..." 

Well, okay...the weather outside isn't frightful, and a fire would only be sort of delightful.  I'm trying to get us in the holiday spirit with our little Charlie Brown christmas trees, foods, and music.  

This was a really good recipe!  I made swirly patterns on mine before I baked them, and that added a nice touch.  They're great by themselves, or you could dip them in milk\white chocolate, or drizzle a little frosting across the tops.

Ingredients:

 - 1\3 cup vegetable oil

 - 1 cup white sugar

 - 3 eggs

 - 1\4 cup molasses 

 - 2 1\4 cup all-purpose flour

 - 1 cup wheat flour

 - 1 tablespoon baking powder

 - 1 1\2 tablespoon ginger

 - 3\4 tablespoon cinnamon

 - 1\2 tablespoon ground cloves

 - 1\4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375º, and grease a cookie sheet.

2. In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and molasses. In another bowl, combine flours, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg; mix into egg mixture to form a stiff dough.

3.  Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a roll the length of the cookie. Place rolls on cookie sheet, and pat down to flatten the dough to 1/2 inch thickness. 

4.  Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool. 

5.  When cool enough to touch, cut into 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices. Place sliced biscotti on cookie sheet, and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until toasted and crispy.      

  

Coffee Cake

Yum.  Yum, yum, yum!  That's what I have to say about this coffee cake.  I find alot of good recipes online, and this one didn't disappoint!  Just the cake itself was great - buttery and moist.  But you add the cinnamon sugar mixture on top, and immediately it turns into coffee cake-y goodness!                         

Ingredients:

Cake:
•  1 1\2 stick butter, softened                
•  2 cups white sugar
•  3 cups flour, sifted
•  4 tsp baking powder
•  1 tsp salt
•  1 1\4 cup whole milk (or low-fat if it makes you feel better!)
•  3 whole egg whites, beaten until stiff

Topping:

•  1 1\2 stick butter, softened                              
•  3\4 cups flour
•  1 1\2 cups brown sugar
•  2 tb cinnamon
•  1 1\2 cups pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º.  Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and set aside.  Beat egg whites until stiff, and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar.  Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined.  Don't overbeat.  Fold in egg whites with a spatula.  Spread in well greased 9x13 pan (or larger), one with high sides (If you don't have a high-sided pan, it might be a good idea to spread foil in the bottom of your oven).  

In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter just until crumbly, and sprinkle over the top.  

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until the center is no longer jiggly.  

Enjoy!

Photo via The Pioneer Woman

Note: Beating the egg whites by hand doubles as a great arm workout.  I ended up pacing around the kitchen, whisking as fast as I could, urging them to hurry up. 

Three bean salad

For those of who are aren't vinegar lovers {or you absolutely hate vinegar}, you better just move on, because this recipe definitely isn't for you.  Buuuut, for those are you who are - this should be right up your alley!  

I never thought of myself as a vinegar lover.  In fact, I always thought that I didn't like it, and most times I don't.  But when we were staying at the Apples' house in Knoxville, Mrs. Evelyn served us three bean salad, and I loved it.  I made it a while back, and I can safely say that I ate a huge portion of it by myself.  So here it is!

Ingredients:

•  1 can cut green beans, drained (I used fresh green beans and cut them myself.  I think it turned out even better)

•  1 can butter beans, drained

•  1 can red kidney beans, drained

•  1\4 cup chopped green bell pepper

•  Finely diced purple onion, to your taste

•  1\2 cup apple cider vinegar

•  1\3 cup vegetable oil                               

•  1\2 cup sugar                                         

•  1 tsp salt

•  1 tsp pepper    

Directions:

Rinse beans and drain.  Combine beans with green pepper and onion.  Whisk together liquid ingredients, pour over bean mixture, and toss well.  Serve chilled. 

 

Braised-Baked Chicken

I made this chicken the other night, and it was really good!  I just sort of made up the recipe as I went along.  Well, it's not really a recipe recipe, but maybe you'll like it. :)

Ingredients: 

• Chicken pieces, with skin (just choose your favorite pieces!)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Thyme 
• Tumeric
• Garlic powder
• Oil or butter


Directions:

- Coat chicken pieces with salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, and tumeric.  Be especially generous with the salt and pepper.  You want just enough of all of them, though, that the chicken pieces are well coated.

- Place chicken pieces in oil or butter and braise until the skin is nice and brown - about one minute on each side.  

- After both sides have been nicely browned, transfer to a pan, cover with foil, and bake for about 45 minutes.  


- Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until done.

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Don't worry about how yellow the chicken looks.  I uncovered it for the last bit of baking, and my first thought was, "Ew, gross!  That looks really nasty.  Great.  Oh well."  But it's the tumeric that makes it that color.  Never fear, though!  

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Enjoy ~ Make sure and leave a comment if you've tried a recipe!