Cranberry-Gingerbread (Pecan) Pancakes, for the morning after . . . .

I love cranberries, so I stock up when they appear in markets in autumn. (I’m ordering some plants for the homestead, so by next Thanksgiving I may have my own!) I, of course, like making cranberry sauce, but this year I’m not home, so I decided to use my first bag of cranberries for cranberry-gingerbread pancakes.  You may enjoy their spicy, tart taste with warm maple syrup for breakfast this weekend.

This recipe makes 6 medium-sized fluffy pancakes.  To make the pancakes a bit thinner, use a tablespoon additional buttermilk, or just use all milk instead of buttermilk, with the original measurement.

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, macerated for a few hours or overnight with 1 tablespoon brown sugar  OR 1/2 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce
• OPTIONAL:  chopped pecans or black walnuts
• 1 medium egg
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk or milk (milk will make pancakes less fluffy)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon melted butter
• 1-2 tablespoons molasses
• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour OR part whole oat flour (Oat flour will make a softer pancake with no crisp on the crust.)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of allspice
• tiny pinch of cloves

Mix together the egg, buttermilk, butter, and molasses.  In another small measuring cup, mix the flour and other dry ingredients. (You can do these steps the night before, if you want to make breakfast really easy.) Heat a large fry pan or griddle over medium heat until  drop of water dances on the surface.  Grease with oil or a butter and oil mixture.  Mix together the wet and dry pancake ingredients and stir in the cranberries and optional nuts.  Drop pancake batter on greased griddle and immediately spread mix slightly with back of spoon. (You won’t need to spread if you used the thinner batter recipe.) Cook on one side until little bubbles start to form.  Depending on your heat source, you may need to slip your spatula under the pancakes and rotate them before you flip, if it looks like they are cooking more quickly on one side than the other.  Flip when the bubbles are even dispersed across the top and the edges start to look cooked.  Cook the other side.  You can keep cakes warm in the oven while you cook the rest.  Serve with maple syrup or a dollop of cranberry jelly.

Ingredients for a dozen medium-sized pancakes, for bigger families or bigger appetites!

• 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries, macerated for a few hours or overnight with 2 tablespoons brown sugar  OR 1 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce
• OPTIONAL:  chopped pecans or black walnuts
• 2 medium eggs or 1 extra-large egg
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk (milk will make pancakes less fluffy)
• 3 tablespoon melted butter
• 2-4 tablespoons molasses
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour OR part whole oat flour (Oat flour will make a softer pancake with no crisp on the crust.)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of allspice
• pinch of cloves

Do you have a favorite holiday breakfast?  Do tell!

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.

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Apple Turnovers: re-purposing our tomato tart pastry dough

Recently I posted a savory tomato tart recipe, with the possibility of leftover pastry dough if you made an 8-inch tart.  I promised that I’d give you another use for that pastry dough, and here it is:  whole-grain apple turnovers.

I must admit that I grew up with whole pies, not turnovers nor my husband’s favorite from his Arkansas grandmother, fried pies made with her own dried fruit.  You could turn these turnovers into fried pies, but why?  They made Mr. Homesteader perfectly happy in the baked form and reminded both of us of fall when we were kids.

recipe for 4-5 turnovers

Start with 1 or 2 fresh apples.  I like to minimize waste, so I cut my apples into quarters and then eighths and then core them.  You may peel the apples if you want.  Now cut each slice in half to make chunks.  In a small, non-reactive pot, cook the apple chunks with a little water, cider, or even butterscotch schnapps and a teaspoon or more of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. If you’re feeling decadent, you can add a little cream.  Cook the apples until they release some of their liquid and it cooks off.

Now let’s assemble the turnovers.  For this recipe you’ll need about a handful of chilled pastry dough, leftover from the tomato tart or another small pie recipe. (Picture a disk about four inches in diameter and an inch or a little less tall.) Because we’re making a sweet recipe, sprinkle a bread board or obsessively clean, dry countertop with sugar instead of flour if you want.  Roll out your dough to about 1/4-inch thickness.  Cut into rounds of about 4-5 inches each.  Re-roll the dough to get your last round out of the scraps if need be.

Now fill each dough round by putting a little mound of filling slightly off center.  Fold the round over the apple mound and press the edges together.  Use a fork to crimp the edges closed.  Poke holes in the top of the turnovers with a fork or small knife.  Place the turnovers on a baking sheet and sprinkle with extra sugar if you want.  Now bake them in a 375-400 degree F oven (toaster ovens work great for these) for about 15-20 minutes, until the filling reveals itself a little and the turnovers are golden brown.

Serve warm with a dollop of good vanilla ice cream or some apple butter.  Eat any leftover filling with your cereal tomorrow morning. Grin.

Mmmm.  Look at how pretty the sugar is, like a sprinkling of fall frost!

Here’s the dough recipe in its entirety, in case you want to make a big pile of turnovers.  Just remember to use about 1-2 apples for every 4 turnovers or so.

Crust Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into bits
• optional but really tasty!:  handful or two of toasted pine nuts
• 1/2 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
• flour for rolling

Put the flour mixed with with salt and leavening and cold, cut butter in a medium-sized bowl.  Cut the butter into the flour, using a pastry cutter or fork.  Once you’ve cut in the butter, creating a mealy mixture, mix in the toasted pine nuts, breaking them with the pastry cutter.  Now stir in the yogurt, just until you’ve formed the dough. Do not overwork pastry dough! Wrap the dough and chill for a few minutes.  Roll on a well-floured or sugared bread board and cut into desired shape.

Do you have a favorite recipe that does double duty?  Did you grow up with baked turnovers or fried pies–or something different all together?

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader, including photographs.

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Back-to-school breakfast from the garden: zucchini bread with pepitas

August and September end the lazy days of slow breakfasts, but they don’t have to end good breakfasts.  For a quick, healthy breakfast or afternoon snack, bake a loaf of whole-grain, low-fat, higher protein but still moist and delicious zucchini bread, chocked full of good stuff like pepitas, which contain healthy fatty acids.  Take a look at the ingredients:  your only fat is from the egg(s) and the pepitas.  All of the moist goodness comes from buttermilk and yogurt, plus those dairy products and pepitas bring extra protein, calcium, and some good fats.  One loaf will yield close to 2 dozen slices for several breakfasts, lunchbox treats, afternoon snacks, or even as Mr. Homesteader likes it best, dessert at night (warmed with a dollop of ice cream).

Ingredients for 1 loaf baked in a 9×5 inch pan

• 1/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
  
• 1/3 cup sugar (or less)
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or kefir
• 1-2 eggs
• 1 cup grated fresh or frozen (drained) zucchini
• 1 cup plus one tablespoon whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 -3 tablespoons cinnamon (or less, if you aren’t a cinnamon nut like I am!)
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/3 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) or 1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
• handful or two of golden raisins, regular raisins, or currants (optional if you hate raisins, of course)

Preheat oven (or toaster oven!) to 350 degrees F.  Grease the bottom only of a 9X5 bread-baking pan (glass or cast iron preferred over a flimsy metal pan, as you’re going to bake this for a while).  Combine the first five ingredients in a small bowl or large mixing cup–about 1 quart size should give you plenty of room.  Combine the remaining ingredients except the pepitas and raisins in a 2-cup measure and stir well.  Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir just to combine.  Stir in the raisins and pepitas, reserving a few pepitas for the top of the loaf.  Pour everything into your prepared pan and sprinkle on the last of the pepitas.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 70 minutes, covering the top loosely with foil to avoid over-browning about half way through the process.  Let the bread cool 5 minutes in the pan, and then slide a knife around the edges to make sure the bread is separated neatly.  Remove the bread from the pan and let it finish cooling on a rack.  Slice after it cools, as you need it, from the center outward.

If you’ve got space in your freezer, you can double or even triple this recipe and freeze loafs for easy breakfasts in the winter.  If you decide to freeze the zucchini instead, be sure to grate it first and then drain it very well after it thaws before you use it for bread.

Does your family have a favorite quick back-to-school breakfast?  Do you have a special way to bake zucchini bread?

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader, including photographs.

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Chicken Breasts stuffed with bleu cheese, figs, and walnuts

I guess if I had to explain this recipe inspiration, I’d say it’s the dried figs and bleu cheese sitting in my fridge and the chicken in my freezer.  I’ve been getting a tangy, creamy bleu cheese (blue cheese) from a Minnesota creamery that rivals European bleus.  The figs are organic but, sadly, all the way from California.  The pasture-raised chicken came from Falling Sky Farm in Marshall, Arkansas.  All of the ingredients are available either certified organic or, like the chicken, organically raised without certification.  Together the ingredients meld into an elegant dish that might work for date night.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1-2 teaspoons good red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey (or less–the figs already make this dish sweet)
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• seasoning:  salt, pepper, dried oregano
• 2-4 garlic cloves, crushed (We thought 4, sliced, was too much.)
• 6 dried figs, cut into bite-sized pieces and soaked in 1/4 cup brandy or marsala (non-alcohol alternative:  use 2 tablespoons of apple juice and 2 tablespoons of wine vinegar)
• 2 ounces of crumbled bleu cheese (alternative:  try goat cheese!)
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Pound the chicken breast between plastic wrap until it is thinned to be about double its non-pounded size.  Lightly sprinkle on salt, pepper, and dried oregano on the inside.  Spread the fig pieces (save the brandy or marsala!), crumbled bleu cheese, crushed garlic and walnuts over about half of the chicken breast.  Roll up the chicken sushi-style, stuffed side first, and position it in the baking pan with the seam on the underside.  I used a 2-quart Dutch oven and was able to push the ends of the roll into the pan sides, helping to hold in the bleu cheese. Lightly sprinkle the outside with salt, pepper, and dried oregano.  If any figs fell out during the rolling process, put them in the pan too.

Mix together the mustard, honey, red wine vinegar, and brandy or marsala left over from soaking the figs.  Spread half of the mixture over the top of the rolled-up chicken.  Reserve the rest for basting.

Bake chicken in a 325 degree F oven for about 40 minutes, basting every 5 or 10 minutes while the chicken bakes.  Cut the chicken on an angle into 2 or 3 servings.

I served this chicken with a hearty whole-wheat roll a big salad of mesclun and grated radish and carrots.

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Golden Chicken with dried apricots and mushrooms

Somehow when you combine a few ingredients and a few spices from the pantry in a Dutch oven, you can get a dish that is much greater than the sum of its parts:  it comes out golden brown, with its own sauce and a blend of flavors that are comforting and tangy and potentially a little exotic.  I call this version Golden Chicken.  It has dried apricots and  mushrooms, and it’s delicious served over a good rice blend, quinoa, rice pilaf, or whole-wheat couscous.  All of the ingredients work seasonally too, since dried fruit is every season.

serves 2-4

Spice blend:

• two pinches each of paprika and cayenne pepper (ground fine)
• one pinch each of salt, freshly ground black pepper, allspice, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, and cumin–you can use more or less depending on how you like the spice, but just remember to go light with the allspice.

The Rest of the Ingredients:

• 2 chicken leg quarters, whole or cut into drumstick and thigh (or 4 chicken thighs, two chicken breasts, each cut in half, etc.)
• olive oil
• 1 medium sweet yellow onion, quartered and cut into thin wedges
• 8 dried apricots
• 8 portobellini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 heaping tablespoon of potato flour
• scant half cup dry white wine (pour a half cup, take a sip, and call it scant!).  Option:  If you do not drink alcoholic beverages, you can mix half white grape juice with half apple cider vinegar for a similar flavor–that is, 1/4 cup of each.

Begin by heating a 2-quart cast iron Dutch oven over medium high heat.  Sprinkle the spices on the chicken on both sides.  Add just enough olive oil to the Dutch oven to coat the bottom lightly, and put in the chicken, skin side down.  Brown well and then turn to brown the other side.

Add the onions, wedges broken up.  Put about half of the onions under the chicken and about half on top.  Let the onion cook a few minutes while you cut the apricots into halves or quarters, depending on size.  Now turn off the heat and add the apricot pieces on top of the chicken and onions.  Sprinkle the potato flour on the dish. Now pour on the wine, making sure to use it to wash off any flour that is unattractively sprinkled.  Toss on the mushrooms too. Bake at 325-350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is 165 degrees.  If you want, toast some almonds for garnish.

Mmmmmmmm.  Here’s the chicken, out of the oven.

I like to serve this chicken and its fruity, mushroomy golden sauce over a nice rice blend, like brown rice with wild rice.  You can make your own blend or buy one like Lundberg’s. (They are not paying me.  They don’t even know who I am, but they do grow good rice.) If you serve rice with beans, you can increase your protein from veggie sources and eat less chicken.No, I did not overcook the beans.  They’re wax beans.  Mmmmmmmm.

This dish is perfect for families that want to branch out from traditional chicken.  Not counting the rice, it’s an easy one-dish meal that even the younger family members can make.  If you’re cooking with kids, let them try the spices before they add them to the blend and decide which ones they want to include.

Camping Dutch Oven Directions (2-quart Dutch oven)

I made this recipe on the stove top this time, but you can also take it camping.  Follow the directions above, but start out with 5-6 coals on the bottom only, to brown the chicken on both sides.  Then add in the rest of the ingredients (taking care to put half the onions on the bottom, as noted above, to prevent the chicken from burning), put on the lid, and add 7-9 coals to the top.  You’ll need to rotate the whole Dutch oven a quarter turn every 10-15 minutes and the top a quarter turn every 10-15 minutes to avoid hot spots.  Remember, the number of coals you’ll need and your cook time will be dependent on your coals; they’re not all created equal. Do you need a beginner camping Dutch oven recipe first?  Try this one.

Copyright 2010 Ozarkhomesteader.  Short excerpts with full URL link and attribution to Ozarkhomesteader are welcome.  Please contact me for permission to use photographs.

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