Angela Lansbury's Walnut Date Bread

I found this recipe online on several different recipe sites. I do not know if this is the Angela Lansbury of Murder She Wrote fame or not. But I will say that I have baked this bread on three different occasions and unlike Jessica Fletcher friends, no one died. Seriously, who would want Jessica Fletcher for a friend? All her friends or friends of friends end up dead. My suggestion would be to stay the h e double hockey sticks away from that b@%ch!!! And whatever you do....do not take a vacation to Cabot Cove, Maine. Also I could never understand how she could be an English teacher and solve all these murders. When was she in school? Would you want your kid around Jessica Fletcher? She also wrote best selling murder mysteries. I think Jessica was bumping off people just so she could write a book about it. Her next novel could very well be The Killing Breads, or To Kill a Date Loaf, or Mystery on Walnut Date Loaf Lane.Angela Lansbury's Walnut Date Bread

2 T unsalted butter
1 t baking soda
1 C boiling water
1 C chopped and pitted dates
1 C sugar
2/3 C walnuts chopped
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 C flour
2 t vanilla extract

Makes 1 loaf

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Place butter, dates, baking soda, and boiling water in a heat proof bowl. Allow to cool. Mix walnuts, sugar, egg yolk, flour, and vanilla in a bowl. Add cooled date mixture. Stir until mixed. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes and then invert loaf pan to release bread. Place on cooling rack tented with aluminum foil until cool. Keep bread wrapped in foil so bread does not dry out.

This bread is very moist, not too sweet, and just plain deleesh!!!

Pyrex Pizza Pan and Meijer Pizza Dough

I was shopping for small individual size loaf pans when I ran across a cool pizza pan. It was on sale for $10.99 so I said 'what the heck'. Then I got home and noticed a rebate form for $3.00 on the label.......yahoo!!!! I bought my pizza pan at Meijer.So back to the pan. It works great. After the pizza is done baking, I slide it right off the pan onto the cutting board. The pan has a wide lip/handle around the edge. This is a handy handle....a little pan pun.....oh boy...it's getting late.

Also while at Meijer I was looking in the frozen food case for Rhodes frozen buns. Located next to the buns were bags of frozen pizza dough. I thought 'what the heck, I'll try some'. It's the best dough and worth every bit of the less than 2 bucks a bag.I let mine un thaw for a day in the refrigerator. About an hour before you want to use it, remove dough from bag and place it in a bowl coated with vegetable oil. Cover with plastic wrap. The directions say that the dough needs to relax. I guess it was stressed out being in the plastic bag and frozen for who knows how long.Dust the pizza pan with corn meal before you spread the dough out to form approximately a 9 inch diameter pizza. Assemble pizza according to your liking and pop in the oven according to the instructions on the bag.
Remove from oven and slide pizza off onto a cutting board to cut. Do not cut while on pan as this will mar the pan's finish.
What I really liked about this dough is that it gets large bubbles. I like bubbles in my crust.

FYI...this pizza had mushrooms, mild yellow peppers, onions, ham, and green olives. I also found that if I put my ingredients on paper towels and soaked up the excess moisture that this really helps with eliminating soggy crust.

Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts & Coconut

I baked three loaves of this very moist and delicious bread. It smells heavenly while baking. I plan on making more during the holidays.Pumpkin Bread with Walnuts & Coconut

3 1/2 C flour
2 C brown sugar (packed)
2/3 c sugar
1 can of pumpkin puree (15oz)
1 C coconut milk
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cinnamon
2/3 C flake coconut
1 C chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combined dry ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add pumpkin puree and coconut milk. I mixed the coconut milk and pumpkin puree in a separate bowl before I added it to the dry ingredients. The recipe didn't call for this but I found it easier. Once all ingredients are thoroughly mixed fold in coconut and walnuts.

Pour mixture into 2 loaf pans that have been greased.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out dry.

Remove from oven and wrap tightly with tin foil and let sit for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, remove tin foil and invert pan to release bread and place on a cooling rack. Tent tin foil over the bread and allow to cool completely. The bread should easily come out of the pan but be carefully not to burn yourself or damage the bread while removing from the pan.

Enjoy!

Bread Bowls for Cheesy Veggie Soup

Today I experimented and made a few bread bowls to use with the leftover cheesy veggie soup with diced ham I made yesterday. I got the idea for bread bowls from my daughter in law. She said that last year for the Chili Bowl race on PPV that they made bread bowls for their chili. I had an 'ah ha' moment.

When my sister and I went to the Taste of Home cooking school they were using Rhodes frozen bread and buns for several of their recipes. So I thought, why not use the frozen loaf bread and just cut in half before baking.

Here is how I made my bread bowls.

Makes 4 bread bowls

I thawed 2 loaves of Rhodes frozen white bread by placing them on a slightly oiled cookie sheet. I was able to cut each loaf in half once they were slightly thawed. Once the 4 pieces were completely thawed I used my hands to make the dough round. Then I placed 2 pieces on an oiled cookie sheet allowing enough room for the dough to rise. Place the cookie sheets in a warm area for 4 hours to completely rise. After 4 hours bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before next step.To carve out the bowl I used a serrated knife to cut out the top much like how you do when carving a pumpkin for Halloween. Make sure you use a serrated knife as a regular knife doesn't cut through the crust as nicely as the serrated knife. This is what it looks like if you use a regular knife and not a serrated knife.Once the top is cut off pull out some of the bread to make a hollow area in the bread forming a bowl. Do not throw away the top crust and bread pieces, I used them in the soup instead of crackers.

Fill bread bowl with chili, stew, or thick soup. Enjoy.

Baked Custard with Sliced Pears

I found this recipe on the Carnation Milk website. They call the recipe Pear Oven Pancake. Don't ask me why they called it that but I have renamed it Baked Custard with Pear Slices.Baked Custard with Pear Slices
2 T butter melted
1/2 C flour
1/4 C + 2 T sugar
1/4 t salt
1 can (12 oz) Carnation Evaporated Milk
3 large eggs
2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
1/2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Put butter in a deep dish pie dish and place in microwave for 1 minute to melt the butter. Swirl butter to coat the entire bottom.

Combine flour, 1/4 C sugar, and salt in medium size bowl. In another bowl whisk evaporated milk and eggs. Add milk/eggs mixture to flour mixture and whisk for 30 seconds. Pour batter into the butter coated pie dish. Arrange pears in a pinwheel slightly pushing pears into batter.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. My oven required the entire 20 minutes.

Serve warm and refrigerate any uneaten custard.Added 10-8-09

This is soooooo good. It was very good warm but we both preferred it cold. I plan on baking another batch but I am going to use apples on one half and pears on the other. Maybe I'll try some nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice on the apple side.

Added 10-10-09

A friend sent me this email about Carnation Milk. I have no idea if it is true or not but it is cute.

Carnation milk -- 65 YEARS AGO ... This is PRICELESS

A little old lady from Wisconsin had worked in and around her family dairy farms since she was old enough to walk, with hours of hard work and little compensation.

When canned Carnation Milk became available in grocery stores in approximately the 1940s, she read an advertisement offering $5,000 for the best slogan. The producers wanted a rhyme beginning with 'Carnation Milk is best of all.'

She thought to herself, I know all about milk and dairy farms. I can do this!

She sent in her entry, and several weeks later, a black limo pulled up in front of her house. A man got out and said, 'Carnation LOVED your entry so much, we are here to award you $2, 000 even though we will not be able to use it!'

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder with Diced Ham

This recipe is for one of the comfort foods that was prepared at the fall Taste of Home cooking school that my sister and I attended last week.

I modified the recipe because the original recipe called for 1 medium potato (I used 4), did not include ham (R insists on some sort of meat in his soups), and I used frozen veggies instead of fresh.

Both R and I liked this soup. Don't be fooled....it is very filling.

Here is the modified version I made. If you want the original recipe search the Taste of Home site.

1 large bag of frozen veggies (mix of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots)
4 cups chicken broth
1 large slice ham steak (diced)
4 medium size potatoes peeled
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

In a large pot (dutch oven) bring chicken broth to a boil. Add diced ham and diced potatoes and cook on med high until potatoes are cooked. Add in frozen veggies, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper. Cook until veggies are hot.

Meanwhile in another saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually add evaporated milk. Bring to boil and stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat and stir in cheese. Continue to stir until melted.

Slowly stir cheese sauce into vegetable/ham mixture.

Garnish with shredded cheese. I served with Rhodes dinner buns because they are hardy enough to hold up in the soup.

Pork Medallions wrapped in Bacon

Recently I noticed that Meijer had little round pieces of pork on sale. I was able to buy a package with 14 pieces for $7.00 making each piece 50 cents each. I think they call these medallions.

The recipe used about a third of a package of uncooked bacon to wrap 6 pieces. I used a toothpick to secure the bacon slice in place. After seasoning each piece I placed the medallions in a hot frying pan searing both sides. After pork was seared I turned the heat down to medium low and covered. The medallions took about 25 minutes to cook. I then turned off heat and let the meat rest for five minutes before removing from frying pan and serving.
We found that two pieces were the perfect portion size when paired with a large salad and baked potato.
Next time I purchase this cut of meat, I will divide the pork into freezer bags containing 4 pieces each. I think this recipe falls under the heading of cheap and easy.