Today's Quiz

When your hobby is trying new recipes, you never know when you'll pounce upon an unexpected gem.

You also never know when you'll wind up with some . . . let's just say, less than spectacular results.

The last couple weeks have been bulging with mediocre results.

See if you can spot which of the following dishes was my favorite, the one I'll be making again. 

Was it this dried apricot/fresh rosemary yeast bread?

Was it these Scottish shortbread cookies, made with cornmeal?

Could my favorite be this retro chicken and rice casserole, topped with those '50s standbys, cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix?

Maybe the favorite was these lemon custard cups, recipe from my great-great grandma Hattie.

What do you think?  Could the best of the bunch be this "light" recipe for fresh cranberry and lemon scones topped with powdered sugar?

Or could it be these ever-so-humble peachy carrots, a 3-ingredient recipe where carrots are simply heated with jelly and a bit of butter and served?
I'll give you a minute to think.
La la la la la.
Do you have your answer?
Give you a minute more.  La la la.
OK.  Time's up.
The dried apricot/rosemary bread was definitely interesting.  But the rosemary overpowered the apricots, and I couldn't figure out whether to eat it for breakfast or with dinner.  Dried apricots in bread is a wonderful idea, but I won't be pairing them with rosemary next time.  Pass.

Shortbread -- I've never tasted a shortbread I didn't love.  Until now.  The cornmeal in this made it dry as dust.  The bulk of these, sadly, ended up in the garbage.

On to the retro casserole.  I had high hopes for this one, onion soup mix being one of my favorite dip ingredients.  Also in its favor, the recipe came from a cute little booklet put out by the Republican Congressional committee eons ago, which even included a recipe for "General Eisenhower's Beef Stew." Alas, my California representative from way back when let me down.  It needed the extra zip of teriyaki glaze just to give it enough flavor to be edible.  Sorry, Mr. Congressman.

How about these  lemon custard cups?  While these were mighty tasty, I couldn't be sure I cooked them all the way as great-great grandma Hattie didn't give very explicit instructions on that front.  They were souffle-like on top, pudding-like on the bottom -- more like a pudding cake than custard.  With some tweaking, I bet they'd be good.  But as is, I was a little nervous that perhaps I was eating raw eggs.  Yikes.

Cranberry scones -- more like cake than like scones.  Not that there's anything wrong with cake.  I just wanted scones.  Sigh.

So have you guessed yet?  The very best recipe I've made in the last two weeks, the one I'll be making again?  It's Peachy Carrots, from The Four Ingredient Cookbook.  Who'd have thought such a simple little recipe would surpass the others?  Here's the recipe, and I will save you all that time-consuming experimenting.

You're welcome.

PEACHY CARROTS

1 lb. package of carrots (the authors recommend you slice and cook them; I simply took a 12-oz. bag of petite carrots and used them whole, without pre-cooking)
1/3 c. peach preserves (I used peach pit jelly I had made over the summer)
1 T. butter

In small skillet or saucepan, combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat until heated through.  That's it.  Sweet and yummy and pretty darned simple.

Honey-Whole Wheat Bread

I'm not sure where I got this recipe -- probably from my grandma when she first gifted me with a bread machine many moons ago.  But it's a keeper.  A great everyday loaf to eat with dinner or make into sandwiches.  And warm, with butter oozing into every little crevice?  Mmmmm.
I'm sure I will return to cooking something other than breads and cookies eventually.  What is it about the dark, sometimes dreary winter months that make baking sound like the perfect leisure-time activity?

HONEY-WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
1 egg
1/3 c. water
1 c. milk
1/4 c. honey
1 T. butter
2 t. salt
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. bread flour
1 package (2 1/4 t.) yeast

Dump everything into your handy-dandy bread machine in order listed.  Push the magic button and voila.  Four hours later you will be inhaling the delicious aroma of homemade bread and slathering on the butter and thinking you really should cook some carrots pretty soon.

"S" Cookies

These sure don't look like the "s" cookies my grandma used to make.

Thaaaaat's more like it.
Turns out they needed a whole lot more flour than my recipe, "brought from Germany," claimed.
Anyone got any must-try cookies to recommend?

Honey Mustard Dip

Sometimes it's the simplest food combinations that turn out to be the best.  Bananas with peanut butter. Bagels and cream cheese.  Onion dip with . . . just about anything.

This recipe is just such a find.  A simple mayonnaise/honey/Dijon mustard combination, this makes a tangy, surprisingly addictive dip for pretzels.  Or raw veggies.  The perfect snack to munch on while you cheer for your favorite football team.

HONEY MUSTARD DIP
1 c. mayonnaise (regular or no-fat)
1/4 c. Dijon mustard
1/4 c. honey
1 t. horseradish
1/2 t. dry mustard powder
1/4 t. garlic powder

Combine all ingredients and enjoy with pretzels or raw veggies.

Breakfast for Reluctant Eaters

Do you have reluctant breakfast eaters at your house?  Maybe it's even you who can't face that morning meal.
Head over to the Proverbs 31 Ministries site to read my article, The Champion of Breakfasts, complete with recipe for this delicious berry-lime smoothie, as well as an oatmeal-peanut butter bar recipe that may convince even the most skittish eater at your house to scarf down some early morning calories.
Happy New Year.

Chocolate-filled Rolls


Sadly, I'm going to have to give these chocolate-filled rolls a fail.  Not only were they too much dough and not enough chocolate, but they also took a lot of effort

as well as three expensive bittersweet chocolate bars.  Wasted.  Grrrrr.

If you want chocolate bread, try this chocolate chip bread recipe instead.

Meanwhile, I'll be trying to figure out how to get rid of 18 of these.

Lemon Cheesecake

I'd like to welcome a guest poster today, a new friend from No Reason Needed blog.  We decided it would be fun to do a blog post swap (you know, kind of like a cookie swap only via the magic of the internet).  Here, then, is Carol's post, a yummy looking cheesecake made with lemon curd -- doesn't that sound heavenly?  Take it away, Carol:

Hello, Queen of the Castle readers. Carol from NO REASON NEEDED here, popping over from my blog to share a Lemon Cheesecake recipe.

Originally obtained from Veronica’s blog, La Recette du Jour it was previously unknown to me that cooks in Europe measure dry ingredients by weight, not volume (i.e. cups). Many of her recipes use European standards for measurement; weights are in grams or kilos, volumes are in litres, centilitres, or millilitres, and oven temperatures are in Celsius.

Fortunate for me, Ivy from Little Ivy Cakes had used the same recipe previously and had converted the measurements to American standards...THANK YOU!!!

I L♥VE all things LEMON and wasn't in the least bit apprehensive to try her Lemon Cheesecake.

LEMON CHEESECAKE

the bottom crust:
1 1/4 cup shortbread biscuits (I used Arrowroot's)
1/2 cup butter


the filling:
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cup cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup caster sugar & 1/4 cup granulated sugar)
3 eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus the juice of half of it
3/4 cup lemon curd

-Preheat the oven to 350F. Have a large spring-form pan ready
-Put the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush with a meat tenderizer or roll with a rolling pin. Don't reduce them to powder leave some biggish lumps, otherwise the base will be too stodgy. Melt the butter, mix with the biscuits, then spread the mixture over the base of the tin, patting it down firmly,
-bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 280 F.
-Meanwhile, put all the cheese in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 30 seconds to make it smooth and light. Beat in the sugar, then the eggs, one by one, followed by the lemon zest and juice.
-Swirl in half the lemon curd
-Pour into the tin and bake for about an hour (I baked for 1 hour at 280F and an additional 15 minutes at 300F). The filling should be only just set and still a little bit wobbly in the middle. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in it to cool.

- When it's completely cold, unmould it and put it on a plate.

- Spread the rest of the lemon curd over it and decorate.

LEMON CURD
Juice of 2 lemons
1 large strip lemon peel
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
5 Tbs. butter cut into little pieces
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium-low heat until mixture thickens and starts to bubble a little(5 mins), mixing occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat immediately and press through a sieve. Stir and then store in a container. Chill at least 1-2 hours before serving. I stored mine in the fridge until I was ready to use.

Aside from Dalton (my picky eater)... Dakota, John and I LOVED it. Dakota even went on to declare it being "a little taste of heaven", and somewhat "similar to Lemon Meringue Pie, 're-arranged'"

That said, I was impressed with how EASY this cheesecake was to make and how well it held up, without crumbling upon being sliced.

This recipe is a DEFINITE keeper!!!