Date Cake

My love of dates has been as long as I can remember. They were my "candy" as a young diabetic, of course that was only 2 per serving, but I loved them sooo much! Now I eat dates all the time! I like to use them in my whole wheat bread as the sweetener. I enjoy them in my granola and I love this recipe for a delious breakfast type bread or cake if you will. To me this cake is moist like a fruitcake and would be great with dried cherries too. Give this a try and you will be glad you did! This is What's Cookin this 2012 morning on Beaty's Creek!

Needed:

4 large eggs-separated
1 pound dates-chopped
2 cups pecans-chopped
1 cup ap flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 T baking powder-I use a aluminum free
1 t sea salt
1 t vanilla

Position a rack in the lowest rack in your oven and preheat to 325'. Generously coat an angel food cake pan with butter. Line the bottom with a donut-shaped piece of parchment paper. This makes for the easiest removal of your cake. You will wonder why you have not done this before!

In one bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

In a separate, very large mixing bowl, stir together the dates, pecans, flour, sugar, and baking powder. Mix together egg yolks, salt, and vanilla in a small bowl and mix until thick. Fold into the date-flour mixture. Now fold in your egg whites and mix until no more white streaks show up as you mix. It will be VERY THICK. Now place into your prepared angel food pan

Bake for about 70 minutes, or until browned and a tester comes out clean. Cover with lose foil after 1 hour to keep cake from getting too dark. Cool completely in the pan. Once cool, loosen with knife and romove from pan.






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Quinoa Salad

I am trying new ways to use quinoa in my everyday life. It is such a great replacement for rice in meals like stir fry and beans, give it a try. I will tell you to make sure and rinse your quinoa very well before cooking. If you don't it will have a bitter taste. Everyone really liked this salad but my husband thought the dressing was a little too sweet. It is like a sweet oil and vinegar dressing, if you don't like sweet you can leave the honey out. Everyone else loved it so there you go. I am still trying to get used to using quinoa, I just can't get out of my rice dependency, hee hee I am trying though. This is What's Cookin on this very windy Winter's day on Beaty's Creek.


Needed:


1 cup quinoa-rinsed and drained
1 t sea salt
1 garlic clove-minced
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes-cut in half
1 cup cabbage-finely shredded and chopped
1 cucumber-peeled and diced
Pepper to taste

Dressing

1/2 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 T local honey
2 T Dijon mustard
1 t cayenne pepper

To make Salad: Bring quinoa, salt, and 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Set aside, covered, 10 minutes.

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in separate saucepan. Add corn and cook 1 minute. Drain and rinse under cold water, then drain again. Stir together corn, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumber, and quinoa in bowl.

Dressing: Mix all ingredients in a jar and shake until smooth. Stir into Salad.






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Dirty Rice

We are far from from Fat Tuesday but this recipe is total Cajun if I do say so myself. I love me some good ole' Cajun food. This recipe is so good with a bunch of Tabasco poured on top too. This is What's Cookin Beaty's Creek this cold winter's day!




Needed:

1 pound pork sausage
1 pound chicken livers-chopped
1 onion-chopped
1/2 cup celery-chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper-chopped
7 cups cooked rice
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the sausage, livers, onions, celery, and green pepper all together. Salt and pepper as you go. Once all is cooked thoroughly, add in your rice one cup at a time. Between each cup stir well. Serve hot with some Tabasco and crispy cornbread.





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Santa's Whiskers

I am sure all of you have heard of this recipe, not me. I usually have heard of ALL cookie recipes because I LOVE cookies!! I am a Cookie Monster for sure! A friend of mine mentioned these on Facebook and I could not wait to hear what they were. Were they white chocolate covered pretzels I thought? Never in a million years would I have guessed what they were. These are really good and a very pretty cookie too! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek in this New Year!

Needed:

1 cup butter-room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 T milk
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 cup chopped red candied cherries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flaked coconut



Cream together butter and sugar (make sure butter is at room temperature). Mix in vanilla. Now stir in flour, cherries and nuts. Form in to one long roll and roll in coconut. Now wrap in plastic wrap. Place in fridge overnight. Remove from fridge and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. Bake at 325' for 12 minutes or until golden.





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New Years Eve 2011

What are your plans for this New Years Eve?? Ours are as follows, family will be at our home to feast on many appetizers, punch and as much Wii dancing as we can stand. I almost forgot Ransome will be popping off some big ammo at the stroke of midnight too!! As many of you know I am a early to bed early to rise kinda girl but this year I am staying up!!! Tell me what are you doing to ring in the new year?

Stuffed Mushroom & Swiss Burger Mushrooms

I have always had a secret mushroom & swiss burger addiction. Sean thought an appetizer that tasted like this would be an excellent idea. So to thinking I went....This is pretty darn close and enough so to call it good. I made them for our New Year's Eve feast and they were pretty tasty. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:
12 button mushrooms
1 pound baby swiss cheese-shredded
1 pound hamburger-browned
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 stick butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Remove stems from mushroom caps and chop the stems. Brown hamburger with chopped stems, salt, and pepper. Drain grease and then add in golden mushroom soup. Cool completely. Now add in swiss cheese and stir. Place mushroom caps on a parchment lined baking sheet. Stuff caps with hamburger mixture. Place stick of butter in bottom of pan. Cook at 325' for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

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Yule Log

My mother has fond memories of Christmas as a child and the family always having a Yule Log on the big day. I decided to surprise mom this Christmas and make one especially for her. This is the first one I have ever made and to be honest, it was one of the best desserts that I've ever made. There is not a crumb left so I believe it is safe to say that all enjoyed. I used vanilla beans in my whipped cream this time and will never make it with vanilla extract again. Try a Yule log this Christmas and maybe it will become a tradition for your family also. This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek...Merry Christmas!

Needed:

2/3 cup flour

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

4 squares semi-sweet chocolate

2 T water

1 pint whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 vanilla bean-scraped

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

2 T milk

Preheat oven to 350' . Grease a 15x10 jelly roll pan with butter and line with parchment paper, grease it also (I used my Silpat and still greased it).

Sift flour, soda, and salt together and put aside. Beat eggs on high speed until thick and light, this usually happens in about 5 minutes. Now add in your sugar a little at a time and beat until thick. Melt chocolate and add to the egg mixture with the 2T water. Fold in dry ingredients and mix gently. Pour into a prepared pan and bake for 15-17 minutes. Remove from pan onto a powdered sugar coated tea towel, I use about a cup of powdered sugar to do this. Now roll tightly into a roll and cool completely. Once roll is cooled, unroll it. Now whip your cream on high and when it begins to thicken up, add your powdered sugar and vanilla bean. Whip until thick. Now spread evenly on your unrolled cake. Roll cake bake up and place seam side down and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in fridge. Now is the time to make your icing, Take softened butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, milk and mix until smooth. Slice two ends off and place on each side of "log". Ice cake all over and then take a fork to make ridges to resemble a log. I sprinkled mine with powdered sugar.

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