Flavor Trends

Has anyone noticed that there seems to be a flavor trend going around? Blood Orange. I have noticed this flavor circulating Pinterest and some of my favorite blogs, and I love it! Not only does blood orange have a succulent tangy flavor, but there is the beautiful pop of color from the bright orange peel to the vibrant red orange fruit inside. It also fulfills the temptations with summer even with a foot of snow on the ground.

By Stephamelon

Some of my favorite recipes that have been popping up:

• Blood Orange Margaritas
• Blood Orange Mimosas
• Blood Orange Sangria
• Blood Orange Brulee Tarts
• Blood Orange Sherbet
• Blood Orange Bars

Kitchen Adventure: Bierocks

Classic Bierocks

Filling:

1 small Cabbage (shredded)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic
1 lb of ground meat
2T black pepper
salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

In a large skillet salt & pepper the meat. Brown meat. (If there is a lot of excess fat, drain the meat). Otherwise, add onion and garlic and cook until golden. Add cabbage and cook until limp. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool. Make dough.

Dough:

3/4 cup warm water (105 - 115^o)
1 pkg active dry yeast
2 T sugar
1 mashed potato
2 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 cups of flour
1.5 T water

Combine warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand 5 min until bubbly. Add salt, potato, 1 egg, and oil. Beat until well mixed. Add 1.5 cups of flour and beat for 2 min. Stir in remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Until a stiff dough forms. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Let dough rest for 15 min. Split dough in half.

 Roll out dough to 1/4 inch. Cut into squares. Fill with 2-3 tablespoons. Fold up the sides to form a tight seal. Set bierocks on a greased sheet. In a bowl beat an egg and brush the beaten egg over the bierocks. Cook at 350° for 25-30 min. Until golden brown. If you want a harder crust spray oven with water when the rolls begin to brown. Serve Hot.

Kitchen Adventure #3

It has been a scorcher this year. Most of our garden never had a change. One seed that grew plentifully: basil. What to do with 3 pots of basil? Pesto. I have never made pesto before, so this was a fun and simple recipe for me:

2 1/3 cups of fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup walnuts
3 gloves of garlic
3/4 cup parmesan

Combine the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until mixed. Salt and pepper to taste. Put on top of pasta, potatoes, crackers...ANYTHING!

It was delicious! I was able to use Sartori cheese, which I mentioned in a blog post awhile ago. It was affordable, tasty, and well designed.

Cake Pops

A couple weeks ago I finally jumped on the cake pop bandwagon. My husband dislikes most sweets, particularly my favorite cake/cupcakes. I keep trying to make the cake pieces smaller and smaller. I began with a typical round 8/9 inch, but I would be lucky if a single slice got eaten. I then moved to cupcakes (my favorite). They would be eaten, just not quickly enough. I try to make small batches, but even when I half a recipe it was always have more than we can enjoy. Cake pops were the perfect solution.

Tablespoon bits of cake covered in white chocolate. I can still decorate them in crazy ways, and they come in any flavor I desire. My first pops weren't quite so lovely, but I have great goals with these examples to aspire to:

Too bad sprinkles are so expensive, but now I have some recipes to make my own sprinkles.

• Kitchen Daily
• The Kitchn
• Brave Tart

Kitchen Adventure #1

It was a sweltering  110° day in Kansas, and all I wanted was a delectable slice of cake. Tyler doesn't like cake, or most sweets actually, (what is wrong with him?) so I try to limit my baking if possible (especially with this heat). Since Tyler was on a health kick for about 2 weeks and we had lots of fruits and veggies going to waste in our fridge that I would whip up some peach cobbler.  Okay, not super healthy, but it has fruit. That counts right? 

Recipe for Quick Peach Cobbler:

1/2 stick of butter

1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup of sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 tsp of vanilla

3 peaches or 2 cups

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt butter in 8x8 or 9x9 or 7x9, it doesn't matter. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, milk and vanilla together (it will be runny). Pour batter over the butter, and then place cut up slices of peach on top of the batter. Bake for 25‒30 minutes. It will be golden with a little darker around the edges. This a delicious treat and took me only 35 minutes from beginning to end. 

Peaches are a beautiful fruit!