Homemade Gingerbread Loaf

Happy Holidays, readers!  Being that Christmas was a few days ago, I was very busy in the kitchen baking homemade goods for everyone in my family.  Altogether on Christmas Eve, I made three gingerbread loaves, a chocolate cake, and a coconut cake.  Not to mention that I put together two buffalo chicken dips for appetizers as well!  I enjoyed making the homemade gingerbread because it was a new recipe that I tried, and it is seasonally appropriate, which is why I am sharing it today.  This recipe makes an old fashioned gingerbread loaf that can be enjoyed for breakfast or as a dessert.

Ingredients:

2 tsp. ground ginger
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour 
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup molasses 
1 tsp. confectionary sugar (optional)

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and the melted butter, and then add in the eggs, vanilla, milk, syrup, and molasses.  Thoroughly combine these ingredients, and then add these into the dry ingredients.  Mix everything together, being careful not to mix it too much or the batter will be stiff.  Pour the batter into a non-stick loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.  When it's done, you can sprinkle a bit of confectionary sugar on top of the loaf before serving. 

Enjoy!

This is a photo of the coconut cake that I baked - it came out great!

 

Christmas Cookies

This weekend, my boyfriend and I started a new tradition by baking Christmas cookies together.  Although our kitchen was quite the mess afterwords, it was fun and we ended up with some great cookies!  So today I'm sharing a classic recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms, and a recipe that was new to me, for Candy Cane Cookies.  

Here are the recipes; each yields two dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
24 Hershey kisses 

Instructions:

In a mixer, cream together the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is creamy.  Next, add in the egg and vanilla and mix all of this together.  Now, add the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Mix slowly until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated and the dough is thoroughly blended.  Form the dough into balls, and place onto a baking sheet.  Bake these at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  While they are baking, unwrap all of the Hershey kisses.  When the cookies come out of the oven, press one of the Hershey kisses into the center of each one of the cookies.  Enjoy!

 

Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients:

1 egg
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. peppermint extract (optional; you can also use almond extract instead)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla 
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature 
 
Instructions:

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixer.  When it's smooth, add the egg and vanilla.  Traditionally these cookies are made with a peppermint flavor, but you can opt to use almond extract instead if peppermint isn't your favorite flavor.  You can also leave out either flavor and have a really wonderful sugary and buttery cookie instead.  After adding the egg and vanilla, if you are using the peppermint or almond extract, add it in now, and mix everything together.  Once it's mixed well, add the flour and salt and mix slowly until everything is incorporated.  Once the dough is done, you are going to take half of it and flatten it into a circle and then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  With the other half of the dough still in your mixing bowl, add the red food coloring and mix it in until your dough is a bright red color.  Now, press this dough into a circle as well and wrap in plastic wrap, and then place this in the fridge.  Leave the dough in the fridge for about an hour.  Once it's been an hour, take your dough out of the fridge and get ready for the fun part.  You can either roll the dough out and cut each circle of dough into 24 strips of equal size.  Or, you can pinch the dough into pieces of equal size, which is what I did.  Once you have the strips or the pieces ready, you are going to roll each one and then twist together a red piece with a regular dough piece and form them into candy cane shapes.  Lay all of these onto baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes, or until the ends of the candy canes start to look golden brown.  These are done!  Enjoy them with a mug of hot cocoa or coffee, or even just a glass of milk.  

Here are the circles of dough prior to being refrigerated.

This is what the cookies looked like before being put into the oven.

The finished product!

Can't wait to enjoy these with a hot cup of cocoa!

 

Enjoy!!!

Chicken Lazone

This recipe for chicken lazone is one that I found on Pinterest, and then I tweaked it to make it more suitable to my taste.  This dish was a huge hit and it was even a success with my boyfriend, who is a very picky eater.  Not bad for trying out a new recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lb. of chicken breast or tenders  (boneless & skinless)
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1/4 tbsp. salt
Pinch of pepper
1/2 tsp. ground oregano(optional)

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)  
1/3 cup of heavy cream
1/2 lb. of pasta (I chose to use linguine - you can choose whatever noodle style you like)

 Instructions:

Add half of the butter to a pan and bring to medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into strips. Then put the chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a bowl, and toss the chicken pieces into the spices to cover them. Now, add the chicken to the pan, and cook for about four minutes on each side. When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan and set it aside. Then turn the heat down a bit, and add the rest of the butter to the same pan you cooked the chicken in. Once melted, add the heavy cream. Let this simmer while you boil the pasta. The cream sauce should simmer for about seven to ten minutes, and you should stir it occasionally. The cream and butter will mix with the spices that were on the chicken, and make a simple but creamy sauce. When the pasta is done, pour some of the cream sauce over it, add the chicken, and then garnish with a bit of extra oregano and red pepper flakes if you'd like.

Enjoy!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

In the spirit of football season, I decided to make some game day foods since we are watching the Patriots game.  So I made my buttermilk fried chicken wings and tried a new recipe for spinach artichoke dip!  It was amazingly good and so easy.  It's a crock pot recipe, which of course are my favorite since you toss in the ingredients and then let it do its thing until you're ready to eat.

Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:
10 oz. Frozen spinach, thawed
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can/jar artichokes (not marinated)

Instructions:
In the crock pot, add all of the cheeses and cream cheese, then toss in the minced garlic.  Before you add the spinach, make sure that you've broken it up a bit with a fork to make sure its not in large chunks, and then add that to the crock pot.  Lastly, drain the water out of the can or jar of artichokes, and then dice them into small pieces, and add it to the crock pot.  Give this all a stir and then cook on high for two hours.  Half way through, open the lid and stir everything again.

Enjoy!!!

This Fall's Brussel Sprout Harvest

Last Fall I posted pictures of our first ever harvest of brussel sprouts, and that time has come again!  Ever since my Mom and I became obsessed with roasted brussels, we wanted to see if they would grow well in the garden, and they do!  The interesting thing about this vegetable is that you can't pick them until it gets colder.  Typically, you wait until after the first frost of the season but it's been cold enough at night that we thought we would harvest some and see how they taste.  

 Today we picked one stalk of them, with many more stalks left in the garden.  Here's what we got:

To recap our easy recipe for cooking these on the stovetop...

Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil to a saucepan, with 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  When this heats up and the garlic is sizzling, add the brussel sprouts (first you will rinse them and chop each one in half.)  Then, add a good sprinkle of coarse salt, pepper, and the juice of half a lemon.  Let the brussels roast until the edges gets crispy and golden brown.  Enjoy!
 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies

I've been away from the blog for a bit, but I'm back with a new pumpkin-inspired recipe!  It's finally autumn again, and I'm always determined to try new seasonal recipes.  These blondie bars are easy to make, and they are a wonderful treat for a snack or a dessert. 

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour
1/2 tbsp. nutmeg
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened, canned pumpkin
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.  When it is smooth, add in the egg and vanilla extract.  Now, add the pumpkin puree and mix everything together until well-combined.  Add in the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and mix on a low speed until everything is mixed.  Now, fold in the chocolate chips.  The batter will be like a stiff cookie batter at this point.  Spread the mixture into a greased pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. 

*yields 24 bars* 

Homemade Lavender Hand Scrub

The Turtle's Kitchen is more than just recipes for great meals - I'm all about making things at home and doing DIY projects.  Today I'm sharing something that my Mom made: homemade lavender hand & foot scrub!  This is so easy to make, with only three ingredients.  It smells great, and can be used to exfoliate the hands and feet.  The olive oil makes your hands and feet feel smooth, and the lavender has a calming scent.  I love learning how to make things like this at home, because it saves money but it's also fun.

Here's the simple way to make your own body scrub...

Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup dried lavender

Instructions:

Place the olive oil and lavender into a sauce pan.  Heat this until the mixture is warm.  Place the salt into a separate dish or bowl.  Pour the oil mixture over the salt, and mix it well until everything is incorporated together.  Now, you can put this mixture into jars and store it just like that.  Enjoy this homemade scrub!

 

 

Here are the ingredients and jars, ready to go.

Here is the lavender and olive oil mixture being warmed up.

This is the mixture being combined with the salt.

Here's the finished product!

Homemade Chicken Lo Mein

The theme of my blog lately has been Asian cuisine.  I've gotten really excited about testing out so many different Asian dishes, and everyone who has tried my concoctions has been impressed!


So in keeping with the theme, today's recipe is homemade chicken lo mein.  This is another crockpot recipe, but you can easily cook this on the stovetop if you don't want to use the crockpot.  This meal is really versatile, because you can make it with chicken, beef, or shrimp, and you can throw in any vegetables you have on hand.

I used carrots, onions, and celery for my lo mein vegetables, but feel free to toss in anything you want.  As for the noodles - I was able to find lo mein noodles at the grocery store, but if you have trouble, you can use a thick spaghetti noodle, chow mein noodles, or even egg noodles.


Ingredients:


Part 1:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. corn starch

Part 2:

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. oyster flavored sauce
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes 
1 large carrot, peeled and diced 
1/4 white onion, diced
1 large celery stalk, diced  
2 cloves garlic, minced

Part 3:

2 tbsp. corn starch
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
8 oz. lo mein noodles  

*yields 4 servings*


Instructions:

First, dice the boneless chicken into small pieces.  Into the crockpot, put everything from "step 1" and stir it around so that the chicken is coated in the sauce mixture.  Cook this on high in the crockpot for 1 hour.  Halfway through, stir it around to make sure the chicken is being cooked evenly.

When that hour is up, you are going to toss in everything from "step 2."  Make sure the veggies you are using are diced into small pieces, and mix together all of the wet ingredients for the sauce in a bowl before pouring it in.  Once it's all in, stir it around.  Cook on high for 1 hour.

15 minutes before that is done, boil the noodles on the stovetop and drain as usual.  Now, mix together the corn starch and water, and pour it into the crockpot along with the cooked noodles.  Add in the extra soy sauce.  Stir well, and let this cook for about 10 more minutes.

It is ready to serve.  I served this lo mein with my homemade pork fried rice (see my last blog post for the recipe.)  Enjoy!

Fried Rice

To go along with the theme of Asian cuisine, I made fried rice for the first time today. I kept it simple, but this dish is versatile and you can easily add any type of vegetable or meat that you want. This rice would be a great side dish to homemade General Tso's chicken (see my last blog post for the recipe!)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. Vegetable oil
1 tbsp. Oyster flavored sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
2 cups white rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 large carrot
1 small onion

Instructions:

Boil the rice as usual. Set aside when it is cooked. Now, dice the carrot and onion into tiny pieces and then add two tbsp. of vegetable oil to a pan, along with the sesame oil and oyster sauce, and cook the vegetables for about five minutes. Then, in a separate pan add the rest of the vegetable oil with the garlic. Let it cook for a few minutes and then turn to high heat and add the rice and the soy sauce. This will cook fast so stir continuously and don't let it burn. Now, add the vegetables into the pan of rice and stir it all around. It is ready to  serve. Enjoy!

Homemade General Tso's Chicken

Like most people, I love Chinese food.  But usually, two meals from the Chinese restaurant costs nearly $20, and I'm all about sticking to a budget and making low cost meals.  So I decided to get creative and see if I could recreate one of our favorite take-out dinners at home.  And there's another twist to this meal - it's a crock pot recipe!  This is an easy and inexpensive way to eat Chinese food that tastes just like the real thing.  In fact, my boyfriend told me that this tasted like the General Tso's from our absolute favorite Chinese restaurant, and that's quite the compliment!

This recipe yields two large servings.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp. of salt
Dash of pepper 
1 tsp. garlic powder
4 tbsp. hoisin sauce (find this in the international foods aisle at the grocery store)
4 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tbsp. rice vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. of red pepper flakes 


Instructions:

First, dice the chicken into small bite-sized pieces.  Mix together the corn starch, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and then pour it into a large ziploc bag.  Add the chicken pieces to the bag and shake around so that they are all coated.  Now, heat the canola oil in a pan on medium heat.  When it's heated, add the chicken to the pan and cook for about 1 minute on each side.  You want the outside of the chicken pieces to be browned, but the chicken will not be fully cooked at this point.  When that is done, add the chicken pieces to your crockpot.  Next, mix together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, minced garlic, water, and red pepper flakes.  Whisk this together until it is combined.  Add approximately three quarters of this mixture to the crockpot.  Set the other bit aside in the fridge.  Give the crockpot a quick stir, and then cover it and cook on high for about one and a half hours. 

About 15 minutes before the chicken is done in the crockpot, cook some rice to be served alongside the chicken.  I made white rice to keep it simple (but I'd like to tackle fried rice as my next homemade Chinese food item!)  Then, you are going to open up the crockpot and pour in the rest of the sauce mixture.  Stir it around, and then serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

This is the chicken being cooked after being coated with the corn starch mixture.  The corn starch gives the chicken that crispy breading that makes the General Tso's so good!

This is what the sauce mixture should look like.

 

The finished product!  It looks and tastes just like the real thing!

Check out the breading on the chicken - perfection!

Greek Dressing

I got a great deal on crumbled feta cheese at the grocery store today, so I was inspired to make  Greek salad. I came up with a homemade Greed salad dressing recipe, which was simple but tasty. Here it is:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. Dried oregano

Instructions:
Mix all the spices in a bowl, and add crushed garlic. Now add the olive oil and lemon juice. Stir thoroughly until all of it is mixed and the oil is not separated. Serve immediately on a Green salad. Mine included romaine, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and croutons since that's what I had on hand.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Despite the many different recipes that I've tried for chocolate chip cookies, which were all good, I looked today for a different recipe that would make the ultimate cookies. I think I've found just the recipe.

Here it is...

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 stick butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips, semi sweet

Instructions:

Mix together dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. Stir together until cookie dough is formed. Form balls out of the dough and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

*yields 2 dozen*

Now tell me these aren't the best chocolate chip cookies you've ever had!

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake

Mother's Day is this weekend so I have decided to make my Mom a special dessert.  This peanut butter chocolate cheesecake seemed like the right way to celebrate!

If you've tried my recipe for a regular  "New York style" cheesecake, this one isn't too different.  It just incorporates many more toppings.  I've seen this same recipe made with Snickers instead of Reese's peanut butter cups, so feel free to experiment with your cheesecake flavors!

Ingredients:

Crust:
30 Oreo cookies (1 pkg.)
6 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:
32 oz. cream cheese, at room temp.
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 oz. mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Instructions:

Several hours before you start making this, you will need to take the cream cheese out of the fridge and let it get to room temperature. If you don't do this, you will have a lumpy cheesecake rather than a smooth, creamy one.

First, you will make the crust of the cheesecake. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, mix up all of the Oreo cookies until they are finely ground into crumbs. Now, add the melted butter and mix again. Press this mixture into the bottom of a springform pan.  Bake for ten minutes.

Now, in an electric mixer, mix all the cream cheese together on a low speed until it is all creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, letting the mixer stir the entire time, and then add the brown sugar, peanut butter, and heavy cream.  Add in the splash of vanilla extract. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined and creamy.

Pour this mixture into the springform pan which has the crust in it. Bake this at 450 degrees for ten minutes, and then turn the heat down to 250 degrees and bake for one more hour. The edges should look fully cooked, while the center may still look a bit wobbly - this is normal.

Let this cool in the fridge for at least four hours.

Once cooled, we will put the toppings on. Heat the heavy cream in the microwave for about 1 minute - you want it hot, but not boiling!  Stir the chocolate chips into the heavy cream, and allow them to melt. Keep stirring this for a few minutes until it thickens. Now, drizzle this over the top of the cheesecake. Sprinkle the mini Reese's on top of this.

Now that is a Mother's Day gift!  Enjoy!

Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes

This is the perfect recipe for buttermilk pancakes, made from scratch! This recipe is quick and easy. It gives me a reason to use up the extra buttermilk I have in the fridge so it doesn't spoil.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
3 tbsp. Sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda

Instructions:
Mix all dry ingredients in medium sized mixing bowl. Separately, mix butter, buttermilk, and the egg in a bowl. Whisk together until thoroughly mixed.

Now, pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients slowly. Stir together until it forms a thick batter.

Ladel onto the griddle and cook as usual. Serve with extra butter and syrup!

Enjoy!

*yields 10 pancakes

Special Easter Cake

Easter is here, and this year I decided to make a cute Easter-themed cake for the occasion.

I found the idea for this cake on Pinterest and adapted it a little to make it my own.  There is nothing difficult about the actual cake recipe,  but the fun is in the decorating!

Ingredients:

Store-bought cake mix to make a 2-layer cake (I chose to make a Funfetti cake)
1 container of white frosting
Green food coloring
1 cup of shredded coconut
6-8 "Robin's Egg" malted milk balls (alternately, you could use large colored jelly beans)
Small-medium sized chocolate bunny

Instructions:

Bake the cake according the to recipe and instructions included on the packaging, if using a store-bought cake mix.  Be sure to divide the cake batter into two, and use circular baking pans so that you will end up with the "cakes" to be layered.

When the cake is baked and then fully cooked, you are going to mix a few drops of the green food coloring into the white frosting and stir until fully mixed. Now, frost the cake as usual, stacking the two layers.

In a small bowl, add the shredded coconut and a few more drops of the food coloring.  When the coconut absorbs the green color, gently press the coconut pieces around the whole cake and on top of it.  Now for the final touches - place the chocolate bunny on top of the cake, in the center, and around the bunny, place the "Robin's eggs" or jelly beans on top of the cake.

This cute cake will impress your guests - enjoy!