I love the Fall

As I've grown older and more mature, I have discovered that my favorite season of the year has changed and matured as well. Growing up I loved summers, I loved going to the pool, swimming, grilling burgers and enjoying ice cream and popsicles. Now that I'm a bit older and wiser, I know that summer is full of dangers, the heat, the sun (skin cancer) and over charred foods. I love the Fall now. I love when the cool air is just cold enough to require a blanket but not so cold it takes me an hour to warm up in bed. I love the "snuggling" weather of the Fall, just before it gets so cold I don't want to get out of bed in the morning. I love pumpkin spice lattes, hot cocoa and hot apple cider time. I enjoy picking out my own pumpking at Bates Nut Farm and carving them with my family. I love making home made chex mix and eating it right out of the oven on a cold or rainy day. I love that it is the soup time of the year. This is the time of the year when I want to bake, even though I am really bad at it. Its a time for arts and crafts, sewing, scrapbooking and making holiday gifts for our loved ones.

So tell me my few and far between followers... what is your favorite thing to cook up on a rainy day? or what would you like me to try my hand at and post for you?

Banana Peanut Butter Pancakes

No pictures this time, because my roommate ate them all before I got out the camera :)

2 cups bisquick
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 RIPE banana
1 cup peanut butter

mix well, might be lumpy. may need a touch more milk. you can eyeball it. or test your first pancake then decide if you need more milk.

I'm thinking I can double the banana in the next batch, we shall see how that turns out. My plan is to freeze these (when I can make a batch that doesn't get eaten right away) and take them to GWW with a few other flavors. I'm thinking these ingredients give our fighters just what they need to last them through the first battle or two :)

-Seraphina

Lemon Chicken served at Leodamus 2011

This is a combination of recipes that I adapted.

I used drumsticks and thighs, but I would use breasts too.

To prepare the chicken, I soaked it in the following brine over night. (or at least 8 hours)

4 qts. water
2/3 c. kosher salt
4 lemons, quartered
1/4 c. dried parsley
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, sliced
1/4 t. black pepper

add the raw chicken into this mixture and refrigerate. I put them in plastic bags so I could later throw it away and not worry about raw chicken to clean up!


Right before you are ready to grill the chicken you mix up these two things in a blender. While you grill you use this as a glaze, or like a barbeque sauce.

juice of 2 lemons
2/3 cup of olive oil ( I used a lemon flavored olive oil from the Farmers Market in La Mesa on Fridays)

I just kept grilling the chicken and saucing them with the lemon mixture until they were done. These two methods when used together helped ensure that I kept the chicken moist!

Quick and Easy Quiche

This is a recipe for a very easy quiche....

Ingredients
2 cups milk
4 eggs
3/4 cup Bisquick
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup brocoli - I cut off stems
1 cup cubed cooked ham
1 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 10 inch pie pan.
2.In a large bowl, beat together milk, eggs, baking mix, butter and parmesan cheese. Batter will be lumpy. Stir in broccoli, ham and Cheddar cheese. Pour into prepared dish.
3.Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until eggs are set and top is golden brown. (crust was very golden brown, but it's not finished till the middle is also golden brown and the whole pie is set)

Sopapilla Cheesecake from Toni

My stepsister Toni made this with me over the holidays.
I made it this weekend, and the house loves it!

2 packages crescent dough - best if it is full sheets instead of 8 rolls
3 packages cream cheese
sugar
vanilla
butter
cinnamon

lay flat in a 9X13 baking dish the first of the cresent dough
mix 3 packages cream chese, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and 2 tbs vanilla
spread this evenly over the dough
top with the second package of cresent dough
melt a 1/2 cup of butter, mix in 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tbs cinnamon
pour/spread this butter mix over the top of the second sheet of dough

bake at 350 for 45 minutes... or until dough has risen and become golden and all the butter is baked in.