Dolsot Bibimbap

This photo shows bibimbap made with chicken but we love it most made with thinly sliced sirloin steak.  Bibimbap is like glorified fried rice and it is soooo yummy!

4 cups white rice, cooked

4 cups zucchini, sliced thinly

4 cups spinach

2 cups bean sprouts

12 baby bella mushrooms, sliced

2 cups carrots, julienned thinly

4 fried eggs

Sesame oil

1 serving beef bulgogi (see recipe below)

Bibimibap sauce to taste (see recipe below)

Kimchi

Pre-heat the stone bowl upside down in 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.  Put bowls in the oven when it is cold (sudden temperature changes aren't good for the bowl).

Cook the rice, according to package directions.

Stir-fry each of the vegetables separately.  I like to start with those that take longer to cook--mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, spinach, and bean sprouts.  Fry eggs so the whites are cooked and the yolks are runny and soft (don't worry . . . they'll finish cooking in the hot bowls).

Remove the hot bowls from the oven and coat inside of bowls with a layer of sesame oil.

Spoon rice into the bowl, spread it up the sides and flatten it against the bowl.  Spoon the veggies on the rice along with the bulgogi beef or chicken in a decorative manner.  Top it with the egg.

Serve with bibimbap sauce (pour on as much as you'd like) and kimchi. Each person should stir the egg into the rice and mix everything up in their individual bowl.  The egg will continue cooking.  Eat and enjoy!

Beef Bulgogi

1 pound sirloin steak, thinly sliced

5 tablespoons soy sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 cup chopped green onion

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Place the beef in a shallow bowl or large ziploc bag.  Combine other ingredients and pour over beef.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight).

Grill beef on hot grill until slightly charred and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

Bibimbap Sauce

2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Serve with bibimbap.

Makes 4 servings.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

This cake recipe is from distant cousins, John and Alison White in England.  They are related through LaVee's mother's lineage.  Alison is a fantastic cook and John wanted to share this recipe as she says it is very easy to make and John says it is delicious!  He has mentioned it several times in emails!  I hope all of you have a scale to weigh the ingredients so it will be a success for you!  (Lemon cake is on the right in the picture above.)

This is one of the simplest cakes to make, but also one of the most irresistible, for it is very lemony.  All the ingredients for the cake mixture are mixed together at the same time -- this is sometimes called an all-in-one cake method -- and the lemon juice and sugar topping is spooned on to the cake straight after baking.  It's important for a smooth mixture that the butter is very soft, but not runny, and that the eggs and milk are at room temperature.  Look out for unwaxed lemons for the very best flavour.

Cake Mixture:

200 grams unsalted butter, very soft, but not runny

250 grams caster sugar (granulated sugar)

3 medium eggs, at room temperature, beaten

finely grated zest of 2 medium unwaxed lemons

250 grams self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

100 ml milk, at room temperature

Topping:

100 g caster sugar (granulated sugar)

juice of 2 medium unwaxed lemons

finely grated zest of 1 medium unwaxed lemon

Prepare a 20 cm springclip tin or deep round tin, greased with butter and lined with grease proof paper.  Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.  Put the soft butter, sugar, eggs, and lemon zest into a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of an electric food mixer.  Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl, then pour in the milk.  Beat with a wood spoon, or an electric whisk or food mixer on medium speed, until the ingredients are thoroughly combined and completely smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and spread evenly.  Bake in the heated oven until the cake is good golden brown and firm and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean -- 50 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping.  Mix the sugar with the lemon juice and zest to make a runny glaze.  As soon as the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven, and stand the tin on a wire cooling rack.  Prick the top of the cake all over with a cocktail stick, then quickly spoon the lemon topping over so that is trickles down into the holes.  Leave to cool completely before removing the cake from the tin and discarding the lining paper.  Serve cut into thick slices.

Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice Burrito Bowl

 I tried a new recipe yesterday.  Here is the website where I got it:

https://www.thecountrycook.net/crock-pot-chicken-and-rice-burrito-bowl/

But. . . last time I linked to one of these recipe's the recipe address changed and I wasn't able to find the recipe again.  So I thought I'd go ahead and post what I did here.  Yeah. . . I changed things just slightly.  The original recipe said to serve in a bowl with desired toppings.  I thought it would taste yummy in a flour tortilla with lettuce.  And it was.  I also didn't use as much cheese.  I just made the shredded cheese a possible topping, so people could add their desired amount of cheese.  I also used the brown rice and didn't hear any complaints.  :)

The original recipe said it would serve 6.  I think we only ate about 1/2 of it, so it's probably closer to at least 10 servings.  Oh, and Seth even liked it enough that he took leftovers in his school lunch today. 

2 pounds chicken breasts (about 3 chicken breast halves)

1 onion, diced

2 1/2 cups salsa

3 cups chicken broth

1 package taco seasoning

1 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper (optional, to taste)

2 3/4 cups instant rice, brown or white

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

Toppings:  sliced olives, sliced green onion, sour cream, more salsa, lettuce

Directions:  Place chicken and diced onion in slow cooker and add broth, salsa, taco seasoning and cumin.  Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours or until chicken is cooked to 165°F.

Remove cooked chicken and shred with two forks.  Add chicken back to slow cooker.

Turn slow cooker to High and add instant rice and beans.  Stir.  Cover and cook for about 40 minutes until rice is tender and liquid reduced.  Top with shredded cheese, cover and cook for a few minutes longer until cheese is melted. 

Serve in a bowl with desired toppings.

Turkey Taco Salad with Litehouse Jalapeño Ranch

I was looking all over for this recipe today.  I decided to archive the recipe here for the next time I'm craving this salad.  :)

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds turkey breast, seasoned, cooked, cooled and shredded (2 1/2 cups) 
1 cup cooked black beans 
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved 
1 roasted red pepper, diced 
1 1/2 cup corn kernels (2 ears if using fresh, shuck and boil corn 2 to 3 minutes, cool) 
2 to 3 green onions
2 big tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro 
Generous 3/4 cup Litehouse Jalapeño ranch dressing (substitution: Litehouse One Carb Plus Southwestern Ranch) 
Salt and cracked pepper

Lettuce

Tortilla Chips

DIRECTIONS:
Combine cooked and shredded or diced turkey breast (I like it with deli oven-roasted turkey breast, sliced about ¼” thick and then cubed) with black beans, cherry tomatoes, roasted pepper, corn, green onions, herbs and dressing. Season to taste.  

This can be served on a bed of lettuce and I like to crumble some tortilla chips on top.  Also, the turkey salad is yummy to just scoop up with tortilla chips.  I'm not big on having part of a can of black beans left over, so I usually just dump an entire can, rinsed and drained, in the salad.  I usually purchase a red pepper, slice it into strips and broil it until it starts looking cooked; then I take it out of the oven, let it cool a little and dice it.  That is what I use for the roasted red pepper. 

Raspberry Crumble Muffins

I started to crave these muffins when I walked by the raspberries in the grocery store today.  I decided to preserve the recipe here in case we lose the calendar we got it from.  Paige also made these for 4-H one year and got a Best of Show ribbon, I think.

Muffin:
    2 1/2 cups flour
    1 cup sugar
    2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    3/4 cup sour cream
    1/4 cup milk
    2 eggs, beaten
    1/2 cup butter, melted
    1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (Paige likes them broken up a little bit, rather than leaving them whole.)

Crumb Topping:
    1/3 cup flour
    2 tablespoons sugar
    2 tablespoons butter, softened

     Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Mix the bopping by combining flour with sugar in a small bowl.  Cut in butter to form crumbs.  Set aside while you make the muffin batter.
     In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  In a small bowl, combine sour cream, milk,eggs, and butter; blend well.  Add to flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened -- do not over mix.  Fold in raspberries.
     Spoon batter into buttered 2 1/2" muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.  Top with crumb topping.  Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool in muffin pan on wire rack for 5 minutes.  Remove from pan.  Serve warm.

Yield:  12 muffins

Pear-Raspberry Jam

Mom got this recipe years ago from a magazine.  She says it is absolutely delicious!

6 medium pears, about 2 pounds, peeled and cored
1 (10 ounce) package of frozen raspberries, thawed
6 cups sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 of a 6-ounce package of liquid fruit pectin (1 pouch)

In a food processor, coarsely chop or grind pears. (I mix until they are smooth.)  Add enough pears to the raspberries to make 4 cups total fruit.

In an 8 or 10 quart sauce pan, combine fruit mixture, sugar, lemon juice and zest.  Bring to a full rolling boil (one that can't be stirred down).  Boil hard, uncovered, for 1 minute; stir constantly.

Remove from heat.  Stir in liquid pectin.  Quickly skim off foam with a metal spoon.  There usually isn't too much foam when I make it.  Ladle jam at once into hot, sterilized half-pint jars leaving 1/4-inch head space.  Wipe jar rims; adjust lids.  Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

Makes 6 to 7 half-pints.

RECIPE NOTES:  Liquid pectin comes in a 6-oz box containing 2 3-oz pouches of pectin.  You'll have enough pectin to make 2 batches of jam.  Yay!!

Mom thinks you could probably also do this as a freezer jam.  Pour the boiled jam into freezer containers, cover and let sit on the counter until the jam has cooled.  Store jam in the freezer.

Soft Wrap Bread (from King Arthur Flour)

We really liked this bread.  It's soft, delicious and the perfect bread to wrap around sandwich fillings.  It uses an unusual method of using boiling water to "cook" the starch in the flour.  According to King Arthur flour, this results in a dough that is soft and easy to roll out.  

We went vegetarian with our fillings and enjoyed roasted peppers, mushrooms, onion and zucchini along with baked falafel, fresh spinach, cherry tomatoes and a tzatziki (greek cucumber-yogurt) sauce in the soft wrap bread.  Grilled Caesar chicken would be delicious, too.

3 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1/4 cup potato flour or 1/2 cup potato flakes
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Place 2 cups of flour into a bowl or the bucket of a bread machine.  Pour the boiling water over the flour and stir until smooth.  Cover the bowl or bucket and set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour (or flakes) and 1 cup of the remaining flour with the salt, oil and yeast.

Add this to the cooled flour/water mixture, stir, then knead for several minutes -- by hand, mixer or bread machine -- to form a soft dough.  Add additional flour only if necessary, if kneading by hand, keep your hands and work surface lightly oiled.  (I had to add a bit more water when I made it.)  A 5-minute knead in the bread machine, once it gets up to full kneading speed, if fine.  Let the dough rise, covered, for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 8 pieces (each about the size of a large plum, around 3 ounces), cover and let rest for 15 to 30 minutes.

Roll each piece into a 7" to 8" circle, and dry-fry them (fry without oil) over medium heat for about 1 minute per side, until they're puffed and flecked with brown spots.  Adjust the heat if they seem to be cooking either too quickly, or too slowly; cooking too quickly means they may be raw in the center, while too slowly will dry them out.

Transfer the cooked breads to a wire rack, stacking them to keep them soft.

Serve immediately, or cool slightly before storing in a plastic bag for up to 4 days.  Freeze for up to a month.

RECIPE NOTES:  I cooked the bread on my pancake griddle.  It worked great!

If you prefer to use active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, use only 1 cup boiling water for the initial dough, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water, and add this mixture to the dough along with the potato flour mixture.  It'll be somewhat "slippery" at first, but will knead in and eventually become smooth.