Peaches and Cream Muffins

We picked up – Best of the Best from Minnesota Cookbook.  It offers selected recipes from Minnesota’s favorite cookbooks. The Peaches & Cream Muffins, which originally came from the recipe book - Recipes from the Flock sounded so yummy to both of us we had to try them. The book states the Recipes from the Flock is a collection of recipes submitted by women of Tonseth Lutheran Church in rural Erhard.  It is tried and true recipes passed down from generation to generation of church members.  Earlier in the blog we froze peaches so we are bringing them back out for this recipe.  The recipe does not state how many it makes but I am guessing they will be delicious so the more the better!

Peaches and Cream Muffins

~Recipes from the Flock

 ½ cup butter

½ cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup sour cream

1 egg, room temperature

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 cup chopped peaches (fresh, frozen, or canned, drained well)

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cream butter & sugars.  Beat vanilla and sour cream into creamed mixture.  Add egg.  Combine flour and baking powder; add creamed mixture.  Chop peaches and fold into muffin batter. Add pecans if desire; mix to blend only.  Grease muffin tins.  Spoon batter, filling 2/3 full.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 Tupps Tidbits ~ instead of greasing the muffin tins, you can use liners and they will bake just the same

It ended up making 12 muffins exactly and they came out perfect. I would definitely recommend making them again.  KEEPER! 

No Flour Cloud Bread

For our Gluten Free followers out there,  we thought we would try this no flour bread recipe.

It seemed simple enough & they are carbohydrate-free, gluten free & high in protein.

No Flour Cloud Bread

www.myownlabels.com

6 Jumbo eggs, separated

6 Tbs. of full-fat (at least 4% milk fat) cottage cheese

1 Tbs. sweetener (splenda)

½ tsp. cream of tartar

Cooking spray

Tools:

Hand-mixer

Parchment paper

2 large mixing bowls

• Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites, putting the yolks in one large bowl and the white in the other. Set the egg whites in the fridge to chill. 
• With the hand mixer, mix the cottage cheese, sweetener, and egg yolks until it is silky as you can achieve.  Small lumps of the cottage cheese are ok and not noticeable in your batch.  Trade this bowl with the egg-white bowl in the fridge. 
•  Line & paper 3 cookie sheets.  Try and use all cookie sheets at the same time, this batter does not sit well.
• Preheat oven to 300. 
• Add cream of tartar to the egg whites; beat the eggs until they form stiff peaks.
• Use a large spoon to gently fold the yolk mixture into the egg white meringue. 
• Using the same spoon, scoop dollops onto the cookies sheets, leaving 1 inch between each. 
• Place all cookie sheets into the oven at the same time.  The bread rounds will bake between 20 – 30 minutes.  Bake them to be light golden color for softer bread, and darker to be crisper.

Tupps Tidbits ~ 3 cookie sheets did not fit in our oven, we opt to make ½ this recipe and use 2 cookie sheets

We found that you definitely would want to bake them the full 30 minutes, if not more time, till they are brown on top…they come out light and fluffy. I would like to try them again & add flavors such as onion powder or cinnamon-sugar or maybe fresh thyme & oregano.  They also might turn out better if you spread the bread out onto the full baking sheet, then cutting into loaf-like squares. Verdict is still out if they are KEEPER OR NOT A KEEPER. They are definately NOT a KEEPER in our house but we are checking with our Gluten Free expert! 
UPDATE:  from the Gluten Free expert  "Cloud bread is questionable, I would not recommend it." 

Velveeta Tex-Mex Beef & Potatoes

I was first introduced to this recipe when Karla brought in her leftovers for lunch.  She handed me a spoonful and it was so yummy we had to make it ourselves.  It was a hearty Mexican hot dish that warmed the tummy.  She recommended adding black beans & a little less corn.  Also, for a healthier version you could replace the ground beef with ground turkey & the hashbrowns with rice.  We ended up following the Kraft recipe (as listed below)  but took Karla’s recommendation on adding the beans.  If you need to feed a hungry family quick…this tasty dish can be on the table pretty quickly!

Velveeta Tex-Mex Beef & Potatoes

~ Kraftrecipes.com & Karla Hamilton

1 lb ground beef

1 red pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) Taco Seasoning Mix

½ cup water

4 cups frozen Southern style hash browns

1 pkg (10 oz.)  frozen corn

½ lb (8 oz) Velveeta, cut into ½-inch cubes

• Heat oven to 350 F
• Brown meat with peppers & onions in large skillet; drain, return to skillet
• Stir in taco mix & water.  Add potatoes & corn; cover, cook 5 to 7 min. until potatoes are tender
•  Stir in Velveeta & mix well.  Cook uncovered until melted & well blended.
• Spoon into 13X9 baking dish; cover
• Bake 20 min; stir. Bake uncovered, 15 min. or until heated through

                                                  

Tupps Tidbits ~ Be sure to use the cubed Southern style hash browns in this recipe, not the shredded

Well just as I thought, it was delicious. We only made ½ the above recipe & placed it in a 9 x 9 pan & ate the whole thing in one sitting. It does need a little extra spice, a good addition would be green chilies or red pepper flakes....either way, we should have made the full recipe because we did not have leftovers for lunch the next day…..DEFINITELY A KEEPER!  THANKS KARLA!

Turkey Sage Sausage Patties

There’s nothing like homemade sausage for breakfast.   We found this recipe in the Taste of Home December/January 2013 issue under the Quick Fix Classics.   

Turkey Sage Sausage Patties

Tasteofhome.com

1 small onion, finely chopped

¼ cup dry bread crumbs

1 tsp rubbed sage

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp pepper

1 lb lean ground turkey

2 tsp canola oil

• In a large bowl, combine first 6 ingredients.  Crumble turkey over mixture; mix lightly both thoroughly.  Shape into patties.  Refrigerate, covered, for 2 hours.
• In a large nonstick skillet, heat over medium heat.  Add patties, cook for 6-7 minutes on each side or until a thermometer read 165.

Tupps Tidbits ~ you might want to do the first step the night before you are serving, since this needs to be   chilled for 2hours, use hamburger press to make uniform size

The patties were good but lacked a little spice.  We recommend adding some more salt, pepper and maybe some garlic to the mix.  We are going to try freezing the left-over’s and reheating. Definitely a KEEPER!

Orange-Cinnamon French Toast

I love French toast and I think this one will chase away cold January mornings…. warm bread made special with orange juice and cinnamon.  We found this recipe in the Taste of Home December/January 2013 issue under the Quick Fix Classics.   

Orange-Cinnamon French Toast

Tasteofhome.com

2 – 4 Tbsp. butter, melted

2 Tbsp. honey

½ tsp ground cinnamon

3 eggs

½ cup orange juice

1/8 tsp salt, optional

6 slices bread

            Additional honey, optional

• In a small bowl, mix the butter, honey & cinnamon.  Pour into a greased 13 X 9 baking pan; spread to coat bottom of pan.
• In a shallow bowl, whisk the eggs, orange juice and if desired, salt.  Dip both sides of bread in egg mixture.  Place in prepared pan.
• Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Invert onto serving platter; serve with honey if desired.

Tupps Tidbits ~ for even more wow ~  cut oranges into slices and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar

Since this dish practically takes care of itself it would be a great one to double and make for company or a holiday morning, either for breakfast or brunch.  It was very sweet with a hint of the fruity O. J.  We accompanied it with homemade turkey sage sausage patties that you will see later in the year on the blog.    We did decide this is definitely a KEEPER in our house.  2^nd keeper of the New Year! WOW!

Winter Squash Casserole

This recipe was provided by my co-worker.  She has a huge garden that provides for her family, extended relatives & friends.  I asked her one day if she would provide me her favorite winter squash recipe so we could try it.   Actually if it was not for her, we probably would have not tried growing butternut squash last summer & as you know, we ended up with gracious amounts of squash this year.  ENJOY!

  Winter Squash Casserole

-Kathryn Scherger

6 cups mashed winter squash

½ cup butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar

6 eggs, beaten

½ tsp salt

TOPPING:

                1 cup packed brown sugar

                ½ cup butter or margarine, softened

¼ cup flour

½ cup pecans

Combine first five ingredients; place in an ungreased 13-in. x 9in. x 2in. baking dish.  Combine topping ingredients & crumble over the top. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Tupps Tidbits ~ this recipe calls for cooked/ mashed winter squash, which means you have to cook the squash first before you add it to the baking dish…you can cook it like we did for the  Whipped Squash http://tupperstaste.blogspot.com/2012/10/whipped-squash.html   or you could use your prepared method.

We decided to make ½ the recipe, in a glass baking dish.  We lowered the temperature on the oven to 325.  It took a little longer than 45 minutes to cook, actually about an hour to 1-1 /2 hours but we thought the reason this might have happened was we did cook/mash up the squash the night before to save on the dinner time & so the squash was placed in the baking dish cold.  It is plated with veggies & grilled pork.  It was a delicious dinner….this is definitely a KEEPER in our house & probably best served at a holiday gathering.  I am not sure if Tupps is going to place this under the “vegetable, fruit or dessert” category.  I would defiantly say dessert…double YUMO for this one!

Easy Oriental Teriyaki Meatballs

WELCOME to 2013!

I know all our loyal followers out there have been wondering if we were going to be continuing in 2013 and yes we are!   Again, we will try and make one new recipe a week, taste it and decide if it is a KEEPER or NOT.  Hopefully we can find some fabulous new finds to spice up our and your recipe rotation!

Since the Vikings were in the play offs, we decided to start off with an appetizer in 2013. Notice how I stated “were”.   Hopefully these will come in handy game days!

 

Easy Oriental Teriyaki Meatballs

~sparkpeople.com & Lori Winkels

1 lb 93% Lean Ground Beef

½ cup chopped green onions

2 Tbs. garlic powder

1/3 cup teriyaki sauce

3 tsp. ginger root

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  All ingredients can be adjusted according to taste. Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Form 8 – 2oz. balls (for meals) or 16 – 1oz. balls (for appetizers).  Place in a baking dish & bake 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!

Tupps Tidbits ~ we thought that 2 Tbs. garlic powder sounded a bit much & so we only added 1 tsp. garlic powder…also, we decided to bake on a baking sheet & put foil down on the baking sheet. for easier clean up

Well the Vikings might have not scored in 2013 but we did with this recipe.  The meatballs were quick, easy and delicious!  SCORE!  Also, if you make 16 servings, they come out to about 50 calories each, which is a nice “snack”.  They are definitely a KEEPER in our house!