Elle's Kichen: Orange Raisin Scones

On Sunday nights we are watching the final

season of Downton Abbey.  Last Sunday we 

had a late dinner and made it a tea.  Of course,

when you have tea, you should have scones.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar, divided

2 tabl. orange zest

1 tabl. baking powder

1/2 teas. salt

1/2 cup butter, chilled

1/2 cup raisins

1/3 cup sour cream

1 egg

cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Spray a baking

pan with Pam.

Whisk flour, 1/3 cup of the sugar, orange zest,

baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Add butter and cut into the flour mixture

with a pastry blender or 2 knives until

mixture looks like coarse meal.

Add the raisins.

Whisk the sour cream and egg together in 

a small bowl.

Add sour cream/egg mixture to the flour

mixture and toss until mist clumps form.

Pour flour mixture onto a lightly floured

surface and gently knead just until dough

comes together.  Divide in half and form each

half into a 4'' round.  Sprinkle with cinnamon

and the remaining sugar.  Gently press this 

into the dough so it stays in place.  Cut each 

round into 4 parts and transfer to the baking

sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until

golden brown.  Cool and serve.

They were delicious!

Elle's Kitchen: Bundt Pan Meatloaf

Comfort From the Storm

I was scrolling through facebook the other day and saw

that yet another snowstorm was going to hit our area at

the weekend.  A few posts later I saw this recipe for a bundt

pan meatloaf.  I have not had meatloaf for 22 years, the last

time was when I was pregnant with Brennan.  Our Mum 

used to make meatloaf as we were growing up and I always

enjoyed it, especially the next day when we would have 

meatloaf sandwiches.  Since we would have to stay home

due to the snow, I thought this would be a good stick to the

ribs sort of meal.

Ingredients:

1 box Stove Top Stuffing mix

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

2 eggs

bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line the bottom of a non stick bundt pan with bacon

strips.  (Does anyone else think of My Big Fat Greek

Wedding when they see a bundt pan?)

In a bowl combine stuffing mix, onion soup mix and

water.  Set aside until water is absorbed into stuffing.

Add the 2 eggs and ground beef and combine.

Press meat mixture into bundt pan and top with

bacon slices.

Bake for 1 hour and test to be sure to have an

internal temperature of 160F.

I served it with mashed potatoes and gravy and 

mixed vegetables.  It was delicious!

Enjoy!

Elle's Kitchen: Pernil

Today is my brother's birthday so in honor of his special

day I thought I would blog about a meal he made the last 

time he visited my house.  My brother lives 750 miles 

away from me but we are very close and talk all the time

about food and travel and sometimes about the crazy life

of being in show business or being an artist.  This meal was

made back in November when he was here for Thanksgiving

week.  I took pictures for the blog and then never got a chance

to write about it.  Thanksgiving week was nuts with a house

filled with people and dogs, then we had the hell week after

when Murphy's Law struck in a week that was already 

jammed with catch-up things to do, then it was off to Mexico

for a few weeks with a new computer that did not have the 

photos of the pernil, then home for Christmas and New Years

and kids home from school and then working on a few books,

designing, filling orders and just a crazy life in general.   I'm not 

sure when he got the idea in his head to make this recipe.  I'm 

pretty sure it started with running down the block between

performances on matinee days (my brother works on

Broadway) to the Puerto Rican lady that sells the great food

or from the day his neighbor Sadie was making Pernil for a 

family party when her stove caught on fire and she thought

she would have to cancel the party but he said no bring it

over and cook it in my stove.   So, now it is time for the recipe!

Buy a pork shoulder roast, he says bone-in is best for 

flavor.  Of course, in typical my brother fashion, one

roast was not enough! Put the roast in a roasting pan

and stab it all over on both sides.  I mean really take 

out all your aggressions here and stab deeply because

you want to get the flavor inside the roast.

Get some Adobo and oregano and peel and slice 

lots of garlic.

Sprinkle the roast with the oregano and some Adobo, don't 

go too heavy on the Adobo because it is salty.  Now rub it in

with your fingers and push the spices into the holes from

the knife.  Do this to both sides.

Next take all those garlic slices and push them into the

holes, get them in a deeply as possible to get the flavor

all through the meat.

Drizzle with olive oil and rub it gently, you don't want

to rub off the spices.

Cover & cook at 400F degrees for one hour then reduce heat

to 300F and cook an additional nine hours.  Your house

will smell like a garlic factory.  Place a pan beneath your

roasting pan because it may overflow with juices.

Remove the bones from the roast.

Take the roast from the pan and transfer to a 

sheet pan and shred or pull apart the meat.

Make and avocado sauce by placing an avocado with an

equal amount of crumbled feta cheese, a few shakes of

hot sauce, a handful of fresh cilantro, some parsley if you

have it, fresh lime juice and a shake or two of Adobo. 

Puree and then add a little milk just to make it creamy.

If you have a container like a hot dog or ketchup squeeze

bottle, that works perfectly but I warn you, you may be

 tempted to squirt this delicious sauce directly down your 

throat...

Serve with Spanish rice

and black beans.

This was an absolutely delicious meal and if you

have any leftover meat, make Cuban sandwiches 

the next day.

Happy Birthday Midi!

Elle's Kitchen: Wild Rice, Kale and Pomegranate Salad

A friend posted this salad on Facebook recently and

I knew I had to try it.  The recipe was from Pinterest

and I'm always a bit apprehensive about finding recipes

there since I have had so many Pinterest fails.  BUT, 

I'm happy to report this was a Pinterest Score ~ it was 

delicious!  Even in my dreams last night, I was

 commenting that the salad made me feel so good.

Ingredients for the salad:

2 1/2 cups cooked wild rice, cooled

2 1/2 cups baby kale, chopped (make sure it is baby kale)

1 cup pomegranate seeds

1/2 cup glazed walnuts

1/2 cup crumbled feta

  

Ingredients for dressing:

1/2 cup onion, minced

2 tabl. olive oil

2 tabl. water

2 tabl. honey

1/2 tabl. apple cider vinegar

1/2 teas. salt

a wedge of fresh orange, squeezed

Please note:  it takes 45 minutes to an hour to cook

the wild rice so do this first and then prep the rest of

the ingredients while it cooks.  Allow time for it to cool.

Chill salad ingredients in the refrigerator so they are cool.

To make the dressing, saute the onion in a bit of  olive oil

just until it softens and is translucent.  This will soften the

taste of the onion. 

If you have an attachment like the one shown above 

with your immersion blender, use that, it works great.

If not, use a food processor.

Place the cooked onions in a food processor, add the other

dressing ingredients and pulse until smooth and creamy.

Combine the salad ingredients and toss,  add dressing

and toss again.

We had this as our entree and loved it!  We felt

full but not stuffed after eating it and there were

so many flavors in each bite that you did not get

bored with it.

Enjoy!

Elle's Kitchen: Homemade Granola Bars

Mr. Wonderful and I are heading out for 

a road trip/camping trip.  I thought these 

tasty treats would be perfect to snack on.

Is that tin so me or what?

Years ago when I was a stay at home Mommy

I used to make these granola bars every Sunday

for my kids.  I would listen to NPR and bake.  I 

loved those days, making things from scratch was

such a joy.  I liked the idea of my kids having things

that tasted good.  We tried the packaged granola

bars and they tasted like cardboard and they were

also quite expensive, even when we bought them on

sale.  My baby turned 21 today and I was reminiscing

about all the fun we had while they were growing up.

Even the weekly chores like making these bars was

fun.  They were made with love.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 9'' x 13'' pan.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup flour

1 teas. baking soda

1 teas. vanilla

2/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup Craisins or raisins

1/4 cup chopped dried pineapple

3/4 cup butterscotch chips

3/4 cup peanut butter chips

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, baking

soda, vanilla, butter, honey and brown sugar.

Take a look at the spoon, I bought it on a recent

trip to Grand Haven, MI.  I was shopping with my

sister-in-law Pat and we were having such a nice 

time.  I think of it every time I use it.

Stir in Craisins, pineapple and chips.

Press mixture into pan.  Bake for 18 to 22

minutes or until golden brown.  Cool 10 minutes

and cut into bars.  Cool completely before removing 

from pan.

I like to wrap each bar in a little square

of decorated waxed paper (available in

a restaurant supply store, they are basket

liners that I cut into quarters).  I store them

in the fridge.

When Kate was in her first year of foods in

4-H, the young kids made cookies as their

entry.  She told me she planned to make this

recipe for her project, that's when I knew she

really must have liked them.  On the day of 

judging there were dozens of entries and 90%

of them were chocolate chip cookies.  There 

were no other bar cookies.  I stressed through 

the entire judging thinking, oh no, I should have

read over the instructions, maybe bar cookies

are not allowed.  I thought she is going to be so

upset if she gets disqualified for an improper 

entry.  She went up for the tasting with the 

judge and I could see her talking and smiling

and by her hand motions I could tell she was 

telling the judge how she made the cookies.

When the winners were announced, she won

reserve champion!  

Enjoy!

Elle's Kitchen: Quick and Tasty Mini Pepper Appetizer

One day many years ago, the kids and I 

stopped at our local grocery store after 

school and they happened to be sampling

these appetizers.  We tasted ~ we loved!

And we have been making them ever since.

Ingredients:

Mini sweet peppers

Whipped Cream Cheese

a hot pepper jelly or jam

Wash and dry peppers and cut in half 

lengthwise.  Scoop out the ribs and seeds,

I use a spoon to do this.  

Filled the pepper halves with the whipped

cream cheese, again, use a spoon and flatten

along the top.  Add a spoonful of the jam or

jelly to the top and serve.  I used a Cherry

Jalapeno jam that I found at a Farmer's

Market in Grand Haven, MI.  It was delicious!

Enjoy!

Elle's Kitchen: Garden Mish-Mash

Late July at my American Homestead means we

start to harvest veggies from the garden.  Here,

at Avalon, we have half of our back garden as a 

picturesque area with a pond, a butterfly garden,

perennial plantings and a gazebo.  The other half

of the garden is the working area, it has the clothes

line for drying clothes, the garden sheds and our

kitchen garden.

A few nights ago I pulled a few things out of the 

garden to make a vegetarian dish.  It is a bit

ratatouille-ish and a bit Shepherd's pie-ish but

I just called it Garden Mish Mash.

Ingredients:

1 zuchinni and 1 summer squash - quarted and sliced

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, pressed

olive oil

Hunt's fire-roasted diced tomatoes

mashed potatoes - we had some left over.

Heat some olive oil and saute onion until 

translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add garlic, zucchini and summer squash,  cover

and simmer until squash is softened, about 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and cover again and simmer for about

5 to 10 minutes.  You want the flavors to come together.

Place the mixture in individual ovenproof 

casseroles. (I bought these in the markets 

in Spain and I smile every time I use them.)

Top with the mashed potatoes,  (if using 

leftovers, microwave for a minute) swirl a fork

through the potatoes to make ridges, I 

sprinkled some smoked papkika on top for

added color.

Put them under the broiler until the potatoes

begin to brown.

I served mine with some fresh picked Emerite 

Filet pole beans (I highly recommend them) that 

I steamed, then tossed with some butter and lemon 

zest ~ perfection!