Salted Caramel Sauce

A couple nights ago, my friend invited my family and me over for ice-cream sundaes. I asked her what we could bring, and she said just to bring our favorite topping. While my favorite topping for ice cream is the chocolate sauce/hot fudge that my dad taught me how to make, I thought I would try my hand at making caramel sauce.

From all that I've seen and read it seemed fairly easy. It's basically sugar, water, and cream. Everything else is just extra.

So, at 5:10pm I decided I would make the caramel sauce. If it didn't turn out, then I wouldn't take it, but I was hoping it would. We needed to be there by "6-ish" so I was cutting it pretty close, but that tends to be how I do things lately. Last minute, and off the cuff.

So, I looked at a couple recipes. Got the gist of the method, and started cooking.

If there is any trick to this at all, I would say it is to NOT STIR while it's cooking. Stirring increases the likelihood that your sauce will develop crystals, turn grainy, and "sugary." I added a touch of corn syrup to my sauce as a preventative measure. It has a different chemical make-up than the granulated sugar has, so when it bonds with the sugar during cooking, it prevents crystallization. Alton Brown explains it really well, if you're interested in the culinary chemistry of it all. His show Good Eats changed my cooking world forever.

It took 15 minutes for my sauce to come together start to finish, because I used the biggest pot I had. It cooked faster than it would have in a smaller sauce pan, so I was able to cool the sauce quickly and pour it into a jar, and get my family out the door in record time.

I was a little nervous at how it would set up, but it worked beautifully. It was thick enough to coat the spoon, and the ice-cream, but it wasn't overly thick or chewy. Just perfect.

My friend asked for the recipe, so that's what prompted me to share it with you. I honestly just threw it together, without measuring, as I do most things, so I had to go back and figure it out.

*As always, I use organic ingredients, but feel free to use what you have.
Also, the type of salt you use will determine how salty the final product is. (This what I use.) I recommend adding a little at a time to make sure the taste is to your liking. The type of butter used will also affect the flavor. I use salted butter. If you use unsalted butter you will probably use more salt than is listed.


Here's the recipe:

Salted Caramel Sauce

1 cup organic pure cane sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp corn syrup 
1 cup organic heavy cream
1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp fine sea salt (to taste)
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract


In a large sauce pan, stir together sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over medium high heat, without stirring, until the mixture turns a deep amber color (about 10 minutes). Turn off the heat and whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture will rise and bubble up fiercely, so be careful as you whisk it all to combine. When it has stopped bubbling, add in the salt, butter, and vanilla. Stir to combine and serve warm or at room temperature. Store in a glass jar or other airtight container.




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Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese

 Have you jumped on the electric pressure cooker bandwagon yet? I hopped on 2 years ago and I’ve never looked back. My Instant Pot has made my life so much easier. Especially when we moved into our new house last year and I had to find a way to cook my meals for 3 months without a stove/oven. Nearly every meal for my family was made in my Instant Pot.

 Now there are a ton of recipes out there for macaroni and cheese made in an electric pressure cooker. So many that I wasn’t even going to bother sharing mine; but I was asked to bring this recipe to an activity at church and demonstrate how to make it, so I thought I might as well post it for all of you as well. To tell you the truth, I don’t make it the same every single time. But, I marked down the measurements for how I made it this time, and this is what you have.

The recipe is super easy. Basically, you just put the dry noodles in the Instant Pot (or other electric pressure cooker), cover with water and cook for 3 minutes. When it's done cooking, let it sit for 1 minute and then do a gradual quick release. When the pressure is gone, you just stir in some cream (milk, half and half, evaporated milk, what have you) and cheese until it's creamy. Add salt and pepper to taste and you're done. It couldn't be simpler, and the best parts (besides the taste of course): no big pot of water to drain, and no need to use a rue! I'm telling you, it's some sort of voodoo, but it works!

You can jazz it up with some other spices and/or aromatics, as I've done in the following recipe, but it's all based on your tastes. If you like to use smoked cheese, by all means put some smoked Gouda in there. You like onion and garlic? Add it in to your hearts content. You like Velveeta instead of cream cheese? Go for it. My kids like their mac and cheese to look bright like the stuff from the box, so sometimes I will add a dash of turmeric for color. It doesn't change the flavor, it just colors the cheese sauce to look more appealing to the kids. Seriously, you could add nearly anything from any other macaroni and cheese recipe that you love, and it would work here. I added some cooked bacon the other day and it was amazing! Once you learn how to do the method, the recipe is just an after thought.  Adapt it all you want.

Here's the recipe:

Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese

1 pound pasta
3 1/2 cups water 
2 Tbsp butter
2 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cups cream, or dairy of choice (divided)
10 oz shredded cheddar cheese (about 3 cups)
salt and pepper to taste (I usually add 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper)

Put the dry pasta into the pot of your electric cooker. Cover with the water. Put the lid on and seal it. Cook on manual for 3 minutes. Let sit one minute, and then gradually release the pressure. Leave any remaining water in the pot. Keep the pressure cooker on "keep warm." Stir in the butter, cream cheese, ground mustard, onion powder, and garlic powder. When the butter and cream cheese are melted, add in 1 cup of cream. Gradually add in the shredded cheese, stirring to melt. Add cream to get the consistency you prefer. Add in salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
If there is any left over you can store it in the refrigerator. When you reheat it, you will need to add a splash of milk to thin out the cheese sauce.



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Raspberry Muffins

My family and I were very blessed this year with friends who offered to let us pick their raspberries for free. My children and I went and picked as much as we wanted, and we came home with gallons of raspberries. I froze a lot of them for the winter, and I made some into jam, pies, compound butter and syrup for pancakes. In the past I have made raspberry ice cream, raspberry sweet rolls, a vanilla custard tart, and even a raspberry chocolate coffee cake, but I wanted something different. All of these things are delicious ways to use up raspberries, but I had a hankering for a really good raspberry muffin. Not just an ordinary muffin, that is more like a naked cupcake. Or a so called healthy muffin that is better used for a door stop. I'm talking about a true muffin, with a coarse but tender crumb. One that's still soft and fluffy, but has some heft and depth to it. And who's top is overflowing, to create the most desired part of the muffin: the crispy edged muffin top.

I adapted a recipe from Alton Brown for blueberry muffins. I switched up a few things and I think they turned out perfectly.
The recipe calls for coarse demerera sugar or turbanado sugar to crown each muffin, but I left the extra sugar off of mine and they still turned out wonderfully. The sugar would add an extra layer of crunch if you choose to add it.

A nice large top on each muffin.

This recipe is definitely going to be a staple in my house.

*I use my homemade yogurt in this recipe, but if you are buying some to use, then make sure it's the regular yogurt and not Greek. The store bought Greek yogurt is too thick. If that is all you have, you can still use it, but I would thin it out with a tablespoon of milk.

Here's the recipe:

adapted from Over The Top Blueberry Muffins

1. Raspberry Muffins
2. 
   
3. 2 1/2 cups organic AP flour
4. 2 cups organic sprouted whole wheat pastry flour
5. 4 tsp baking powder
6. 2 tsp baking soda
7. 1 tsp fine sea salt
8. 1 cup organic cane sugar
9. 1 cup unsalted organic, grass fed butter, melted
10. 2 large eggs (organic, pasture raised is best)
11. 2 large egg yolks (organic, pasture raised is best)
12. 16 ounces plain whole fat organic yogurt (if using Greek, add 1 Tbsp milk)
13. 1 tbsp organic orange zest (optional)
14. 1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract
15. 12 ounces fresh organic raspberries
16. 2 tablespoons demerera sugar (optional) for sprinkling on top (can be substituted with turbanado sugar)
17. 
    
18. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan, and a 6-cup muffin pan, with non-stick cooking spray.
19. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In second bowl whisk together the sugar, butter, eggs, yolks, yogurt, orange zest, and vanilla until smooth.
20. Make a crater in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Stir with a rubber spatula until just barely combined. Resist the urge to over-mix – there should be a some lumps of flour in the batter. The batter will be thick.
21. Fold in the raspberries gently, mixing just to combine.
22. Fill each muffin tin cup. The cups should be quite full. Sprinkle the muffins with the coarse sugar and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
23. Remove from oven and turn out, upside down, onto a clean tea towel to cool completely. (This  prevents soggy bottoms.) They are best served immediately. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days, but the tops will become soft.

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Rhubarb Pie

Do any of you still have rhubarb? I know it's more of a springtime fruit/vegetable, but I also know that once it starts producing you have to quickly find a way to use up all of the pounds that you are harvesting, or watch it wither and die on the plant. I myself have bags of it in my freezer, and I have already made 4 pies, 1 batch of jam, and 4 cakes this year. Rhubarb is a wonderful addition to your garden, as it comes back on it's own every year, so no having to replant each growing season. The stalks look like celery, but they can be used in anything you would put fruit in. My favorite way to eat it (besides just dipping a stalk in sugar and chowing down) is to make pie.

It is an aquired taste, as it is very sour/bitter on it's own, but mixed with a little (ok a lot) of sugar it's quite delightful. My parents always kept rhubarb in their garden, so it makes me a little nostalgic whenever I eat it. 

I have yet to keep a successful garden, so I don't have any rhubarb plants of my own, but I will always take extra stalks that people are trying to get rid of. I was blessed enough to have a lady from church gift me with bags and bags of rhubarb this year. Whatever I don't use right away, I dice it up, and freeze it in 4 cup measurements to use later. 

I brought this pie to a church pot luck and had multiple people ask me for the recipe. I think they assumed I was holding some ingredients back, because this recipe is as easy as it gets. You can replace some of the rhubarb with other fruit if you like (strawberry seems to be a favorite of most people), but I tend to just keep it simple. Rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. That's it (and some butter if you're feeling fancy). 

I use organic ingredients when possible, but use whatever you have.

Here's the recipe:

Rhubarb Pie

2  9 inch raw pie crusts (one cut into strips if you want a lattice top)

4 to 5 cups diced rhubarb, stalks only (anymore than 5 cups and you might want to add more sugar)

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 Tbsp butter
egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp water)


Preheat the oven to 350F. Place one unbaked pie crust into a pie plate. In a bowl, mix together the rhubarb, sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch. Pour the mixture into the crust in the pie plate. Place the other unbaked pie crust on top. (I like to cut it in strips and make a lattice pattern. I show you how to do the lattice top in my peach pie post.) Press the edges of the crusts together all around the pie, and brush the crust with the egg wash and then sprinkle the top with a little sugar. Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 50-60 minutes, until the crust is brown and the filling is bubbling. Let cool to room temperature before cutting. 







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Homemade Mint -n- Chip Ice-Cream, with no food dyes

If you guys saw my last post, then y'all know I'm basically melting right now. I just can't hang with these ridiculously hot temperatures. When my hubby moved us from southern CA to northern ID two years ago he was sure we would have cooler summers. Wrong. Now we get to melt in the summer as well as freeze in the winter. Oh well. I can't change the weather, but I can find ways to cool down.

That usually involves staying inside (or in water, or both), and eating copious amounts of ice-cream. But, since the quality of frozen treats you can find in the stores is severely lacking, I've taken up making my own at home.

One of my favorite childhood flavors is Mint -n- Chip from Thrifty's. You know the kind right? It's green with shavings, not chunks, of chocolate. It's minty and helps cool you down like nothing else. Well, I wanted to recreate that childhood memory. But what is a girl to do, to make a hulk-like green ice-cream without food dyes? My secret may scare you away, but don't let it. You can't taste it, and if you served it up to people they would have no idea what gives this ice-cream it's lovely verdant color.  (I know, because I served it to some friends and they thought my hubby was joking when he revealed the secret ingredient.) Are you ready for it? . . . . It's spinach. Now don't leave me just yet. I promise, you can't taste it. You can't see it (no pieces marring the ice-cream). And you definitely can't smell it. All you'll be able to taste is the mint and chocolate. That's it. Are you brave enough to try it? Even if you're not, you can make this recipe without the spinach. It will just be white instead of green. No crime in that. It just doesn't bring me back to being a kid like the green hue does.

This cone has a scoop of my Mint -n- Chip and a scoop of my Homemade Rainbow Sherbet.

As a disclaimer, I use DoTERRA essential oils in this recipe, but it can easily be switched out for peppermint extract. If you are going to use essential oils, make sure they are pure, you get them from a reputable source, and they are safe for internal consumption. If you are worried at all, just play it safe and use the pure peppermint extract you can find at any grocery store, right next to the vanilla extract.

I have a large ice-cream maker, so if you have a small one, you will need to half the recipe or make two batches. 

After the ice-cream is frozen, I like to keep them in cardboard containers (like the professionals do). I use these containers but anything freezer safe will work. (I think the cardboard helps the ice-cream to not freeze so hard, like it does when I store it in glass.)

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Mint -n- Chip Ice-cream 

6 cups organic cream

2 1/3 cups organic cane sugar (can reduce if omitting spinach)

5 oz clean, organic baby spinach

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup water (just enough to blend the spinach - You can omit this as well if you're not using the spinach.)

2 tsp pure organic vanilla extract

7 drops peppermint essential oil (or 1 to 2 tsp peppermint extract to taste)

2 large bars of high quality dark chocolate, grated or finely chopped (the lower quality stuff tends to taste waxy after freezing)

Blend together spinach, water, and sugar until completely smooth. Pour the spinach mixture into a large bowl and stir in the cream. vanilla, and peppermint. Chill in the fridge for as long as you can. The colder your mix, the smoother the ice-cream. 

When you are ready to churn, follow the directions for your ice-cream maker. When the ice-cream is mostly set (like soft serve consistency) add in the grated/chopped chocolate and continue churning. (If you forget, you can always stir in the chocolate when the ice-cream is finished churning.) Scoop into freezer safe containers, and freeze until ready to eat. 

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Homemade Rainbow Sherbet

It’s summer time. I don’t know what that means for your neck of the woods, but for us it means triple digit temperatures, and no air conditioning. One way that I try to beat the heat is with homemade ice cream. I started making my own ice cream a couple years ago, when I quickly found out that the store bought ice creams didn’t fit into my whole food, organic lifestyle. As it turns out, making your own ice cream is really easy, as long as you have a good ice cream maker. (There are “no-churn” recipes out there, but since I have an ice cream maker I haven’t ventured into that realm of frozen treats yet.)

Sherbet is mostly frozen fruit juice with a little milk and some sweetener. I used organic cane sugar so that the flavors from my usual sweeteners (honey and maple syrup) wouldn’t compete with the flavors of the fruit. The amount of sugar can be reduced if your fruit is in season and extra sweet. Just remember that the freezer dulls the sweetness, so the mixture going into the ice cream maker will taste sweeter than after it’s frozen. Rainbow sherbet is just multiple sherbets that are put in the same container and served as a mixture of colors and flavors. I used the fruits I had on hand, so I’m sure you could change things up by substituting in whatever fruits you like. And, as always, I use organic ingredients, but if all you have in conventionally grown produce and juice, just use what you have. It will still be 100 times better for you than the store bought sherbet! Bottom line: it’s easy, adaptable, and delicious.

After the ice-cream is frozen, I like to keep them in cardboard containers (like the professionals do). I use these containers but anything freezer safe will work. (I think the cardboard helps the ice-cream to not freeze so hard, like when I store it in glass.)

If you want the recipe for the Mint-n-Chip, with no food dyes, shown above click here.

Here’s the recipe:

Pineapple Sherbet

2 1/2 cups pure organic pineapple juice
1 cup whole organic milk
1 cup organic cane sugar 

Stir the juice, milk, and sugar together. Refrigerate for as long as possible before churning. (The colder your mix is before it goes into the ice cream maker, the smoother your ice cream will be at the end.) Stir the mix well, to make sure the sugar is dissolved. Following the directions for your ice cream maker, pour the mix into your machine and churn until set. Scoop out and put into a freezer safe container and keep in the freezer until your ready to mix your “rainbow” together.

Orange Sherbet

2 1/2 cups pure organic orange juice
1 cup whole organic milk
1 cup organic cane sugar 

Stir the juice, milk, and sugar together. Refrigerate for as long as possible before churning. (The colder your mix is before it goes into the ice cream maker, the smoother your ice cream will be at the end.) Stir the mix well, to make sure the sugar is dissolved. Following the directions for your ice cream maker, pour the mix into your machine and churn until set. Scoop out and put into a freezer safe container and keep in the freezer until your ready to mix your “rainbow” together.

Raspberry Sherbet

4 cups organic raspberries
1/4 cup water (or a little more if needed to blend)
2 cups whole organic milk
2 cups organic cane sugar 

Blend the raspberries, sugar and water together, and strain “juice” from the seeds using a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Stir the milk into the juice. Refrigerate for as long as possible before churning. (The colder your mix is before it goes into the ice cream maker, the smoother your ice cream will be at the end.) Following the directions for your ice cream maker, pour the mix into your machine and churn until set. Scoop out and put into a freezer safe container and keep in the freezer until your ready to mix your “rainbow” together.

It’s easiest to mix the flavors if they are not frozen solid, so the sooner you can mix them the better. I made the first two flavors, and set them aside in the freezer until the third flavor was ready. Instead of putting the third flavor into a container to be frozen, I just put it into a bowl to mix with the other sherbets. 

When you’re ready to make your rainbow, dump all the sherbet out of their containers into a large bowl. Gently mix with a rubber spatula. You don’t want it too mixed, as you still want solid blocks of color. Scoop the rainbow sherbet back into the containers that you used earlier. Keep in freezer until ready to eat.  Let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before serving to soften enough to scoop.






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Grandma's Apple Rolls

Every Fall I look forward to making my Grandma Roberts' Apple Rolls. She was an amazing cook, and I love making her recipes and recreating memories through them. I grew up eating these biscuit type rolls, bursting at the seems with shredded apples, and baked in a sugar syrup that makes the most delicious sauce/topping for the rolls. My grandma made them for her kids, and my dad made them for me and my siblings, and now I get to pass these recipes down to my kids. Food memories are the best memories. 

These rolls probably won't win any beauty awards, but they would win an apple recipe contest hands down. 

I'm not much of an apple dessert fan (I don't like apple pie, so don't even ask), but I love these apple rolls! I hope you guys like them too!

We like to eat them warm from the oven, with a little bit of cream drizzled on top.

Or . . . a lot of cream. :)

These rolls also pair beautifully with a  hot drink (your choice).

I make these every year, and I look forward to them all year long.

This is my grandma's recipe, word for word. She wasn't much on expounding on her directions, but I'll add a few clarifications in parentheses (so this explains why the recipe/directions have so many parentheses. Sorry. I wanted to keep her words, but I wanted to make sure you could replicate the recipe easily. I hope it helps, and doesn't confuse you too much.) She gives two versions, depending if you want to use shortening or sour cream. They are both listed here. Also, I double the recipe when making it for my family of 7 (soon to be 8), because everyone wants seconds. A single recipe will make about 8 rolls (depending on how you cut it).

Grandma's Apple Rolls

Shortening Version

2 cups flour  (Any flour will do. I use organic whole wheat.)
1 egg (Large. You can also use an egg substitute, like 1 Tbsp ground flax with 3 Tbsp water)
2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar or whey (I often leave this out, to cut back on the sugar.)
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp shortening (I substitute organic coconut oil.)
1/2 cup milk

(FIlling)
(*4 large apples)
(*Cinnamon and sugar (This is to taste. I use about 1 Tbsp cinnamon, and I omit the sugar.))

(Syrup)
(*1 1/2 cups sugar) 
(*2 cups water)

OR

Sour Cream Version (This is the version I make 99% of the time.)

2 cups flour (Any flour will do. I use organic whole wheat.)
1 egg (Large. You can also use an egg substitute, like 1 Tbsp ground flax with 3 Tbsp water)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp sugar or whey (I often leave this out, to cut back on the sugar.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

(Filling)
(*4 large apples)
(*Cinnamon and sugar (This is to taste. I use about 1 Tbsp cinnamon, and I omit the sugar.))

(Syrup)
(*1 1/2 cups sugar) 
(*2 cups water)

(Preheat the oven to 370F.)
(Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.)
-Cut in shortening. (OR add sour cream to dry ingredients.) Mix and roll like cinnamon rolls. (This means that after you cut in the shortening - using a fork, two knives, or a pastry cutter-, or you add the sour cream in, then you are going to add the egg and milk, and mix everything together with a fork until it becomes one mass of dough. Turn it out onto a floured work surface, and roll out into a rectangle. The dough should be rolled evenly, to about 1/4 inch thick.)
-*Peel, Core, and Grate 4 large apples, and put on rolled dough. (I just leave the peel on, but if there are any big pieces of peel left after grating, then I take those out. Spread the grated apples over the rolled out dough evenly.)
-Cinnamon and sugar may be sprinkled on. (Grandma always eyeballed this. I omit the sugar, and just sprinkle cinnamon over the apples until it looks like it all has a small dusting of the spice. You don't want it to be overwhelming. This is to taste, but I personally wouldn't add more than 1 tbsp.)
[Roll up dough around filling -like cinnamon rolls- and cut.] (Use a serrated knife, like a bread knife to cut. It makes less of a mess. I like to cut the rolled up log into half, and then cut each half in half again, and finally cut each 1/4 into half again. That way I get 8 even rolls. You can cut less if you want the rolls bigger, or more, if you want the rolls smaller. Place the rolls into a 9x13 baking dish.)
-Boil 2 cups water and 1/2 cup sugar, and pour over rolls (in baking dish). (It will look like a syrupy mess, but it all comes together when it bakes, don't worry.)
-Bake at 370F for 30 minutes.