Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Warm Plates


My husband hates to eat cold food!  Unfortunately, at our house food often gets cold.  I have to take pictures for the blog, and sometimes it takes a while to get a picture that will work.  By warming the plate, the food stays warm longer, and as a result, I have a happy husband.  Below are the instructions I use to warm plates.

Adjust the oven racks to the bottom and center positions. Preheat your oven to 150°F or to the Warm setting. Stack two to four plates on a kitchen towel placed on a baking sheet.


If you need more plates, you can stack an additional four plates the same way you did with the others on second baking sheet on the other rack. Check plates after 10 minutes. They should be warm but not too hot to handle.

My Stuffed Pork Chop Casserole is featured on the 
All Free Casserole Recipes site.  Link below.
http://www.allfreecasserolerecipes.com/Pork-and-Ham-Casserole-Recipes/Stuffed-Pork-Chop-Casserole




My new cookbook is available at schools, businesses, hospitals, and book fairs in cities across the United States.  Be sure to pick up a copy or two, when you see them.  They make great gifts!

Check back on Friday,
for my Peach Cobbler recipe

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Slow Cooker Pork Roast


2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pound pork roast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

In large skillet, brown pork roast in oil until brown on all sides.
  

In slow cooker, place pork roast, chicken broth, and Worcestershire sauce. 


Cover. Cook on low 9 to 10 hours.


I love slow cooker recipes!  They make dinner preparation so easy.  This rich and delicious roast is perfect alone or with gravy or made into a sandwich.  


My new cookbook is available at schools, businesses, hospitals, and book fairs in cities across the United States.  Be sure to pick up a copy or two, when you see them.  They make great gifts!

Check back on Tuesday,
for my Tuesday's Tips & Tricks post! 

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Pan Sizes & Substitutions


I find that when I am writing a recipe, it is handy to have a list of pan sizes so I get the correct size needed.  Or if I am making a recipe that calls for a certain size of pan, and I don't have it, I can easily make a substitution using the below charts.


Pan Size
Volume Substitution
8-inch round cake pan 4 cups 8x4-inch load pan; 9-inch round cake pan; 9-inch pie plate
9-inch round cake pan 6 cups 8 1/2x4 1/2-inch loaf; 11x7x2-inch baking pan
8-inch square baking pan 6 cups 11x7x2-inch baking pan; 9-inch round; 8 1/2x4 1/2-inch loaf
9-inch square baking pan 8 cups 9x5-inch loaf pan; 11x7x2-inch baking pan; 9-inch deep dish pie plate
11x7x2-inch baking pan 6 cups 9-inch round cake pan; 8-inch square baking pan; 9-inch square baking pan
9x13x2-inch baking pan 14 cups (2) 8-inch square baking pans; (1) 10 1/2x15x1-inch jellyroll pan
10 1/2x15x1-inch jellyroll pan 10 cups (2) 9-inch square baking pans; (1) 9x13x2-inch baking pan
8x4-inch loaf pan 6 cups 8-inch round cake pan; 11x7x2-inch baking pan
9x5-inch loaf pan 8 cups 9-inch square baking pan; 9x2-inch deep dish pie plate


 Round Cake Pan Sizes

8 x 1-1/2 in = 50 sq inches
9 x 1-1/2 in = 64 sq inches
8 x 2 inches = 50 sq inches
10 x 2 inches = 79 sq inches
12 x 2 inches = 113 sq inches

Square Cake Pan Sizes

6 x 3 x 2-1/4" = 18 sq inches
8 x 8 x 1-1/2" = 64 sq inches
8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/2 inches = 38 sq inches
9 x 5 x 2-3/4 inches = 45 sq inches
9 x 9 x 1-1/2 inches = 81 sq inches
9 x 13 x 2 inches = 117 sq inches
10 x 15 x 2 inches = 150 sq inches
10-1/2 x 15-1/2 x 1 inch = 163 sq inches
11 x 4-1/2 x 2-3/4 inches = 50 square inches
11 x 7 x 1-1/2 inches = 77 square inches
11 x 18 x 1 inches = 198 square inches

10 x 4 inch tube pan = 12 cup Bundt pan = two 9x5-1/4 inch pans



My new cookbook is available at schools, businesses, hospitals, and book fairs in cities across the United States.  Be sure to pick up a copy or two, when you see them.  They make great gifts!

Check back on Friday,
for my Slow Cooker Pork Roast recipe

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Easy Banana Bread


1 (16.5 ounce) box yellow cake mix
3 eggs
3 mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine all ingredients.
I did not add nuts.  Mix well.


Pour into one large or two 8x4 inch greased loaf pans. 


Bake 2 loaf pans for 30 to 40 minutes or one large loaf pan 40 to 50 minutes.


My husband loves this banana bread recipe!  He had no idea it was made with a cake mix instead of from scratch.  


My new cookbook is available at schools, businesses, hospitals, and book fairs in cities across the United States.  Be sure to pick up a copy or two, when you see them.  They make great gifts!

Check back on Tuesday,
for my Tuesday's Tips & Tricks post! 

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Cake Mix Tips


There are a lot of people who criticize the use of cake mixes for recipes instead of baking one from scratch.  With today's busy lifestyles, not everyone has the time to do that.  Why heap guilt on someone who is too tired or too busy to do so?  I know my nieces don't care if they help their mom make a cake from scratch or a box as long as they get to lick the beaters. 

Many bakeries and restaurants use cake mixes.  I met a baker at a cooking demo a couple of years ago; he had interned at one of the bakeries that made Princess Diana's wedding cake.  He told me that they used cake mixes occasionally in that bakery.  If it is good enough for one of Princess Diana's bakers, it is good enough for me!

When a cake mix lists water in the instructions, try swapping the water out with one of the below ingredients.

1. Use milk instead.  You can even use chocolate milk.  It will make the cake denser

2. Use lemon lime soda, cola, root beer, or other flavors of soda pop.

3. Orange juice

4. Lemonade

5. Fruit Punch or Kool-Aid



My new cookbook is available at schools, businesses, hospitals, and book fairs in cities across the United States.  Be sure to pick up a copy or two, when you see them.  They make great gifts!

Check back on Friday,
for my Easy Banana Bread recipe

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Slow Cooker French Dip Roast


1 large onion, sliced
3 pound beef chuck roast, fat trimmed
1 (1 ounce) packet au jus gravy mix
3 cups cold water

In slow cooker, place sliced onion in the bottom.  


Top with roast. 


In medium bowl, combine au jus gravy mix and water.  Mix well. 


 Pour over roast.  Put lid on slow cooker. 
 

Cook 9 to 12 hours on low. 

To serve as a sandwich: After roast has cooked, shred, and place on rolls.  Serve with au jus gravy.

To serve as a roast with gravy: During the last hour of cooking, in a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch with 1/4 cup cold water. Mix well. Add corn starch mixture to slow cooker.  Cover.  Cook remaining hour.


I love this easy recipe!  I chop the onion and trim the roast the night before and place them in the refrigerator.  For a hassle free morning, I also set out the slow cooker and a medium bowl along with the au jus gravy packet on the kitchen counter.  Then before I head out the door in the morning, it only takes me 2 minutes to put it all together.


My new cookbook is available at schools, businesses, hospitals, and book fairs in cities across the United States.  Be sure to pick up a copy or two, when you see them.  They make great gifts!

Check back on Tuesday,
for my Tuesday's Tips & Tricks post! 

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Lisa, 
Winner of the
Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway!


Check back on Friday,
for my Slow Cooker French Dip Roast recipe

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!

Friday, February 1, 2013

TATE'S BAKE SHOP LINZER HEART COOKIES


 These decorative cookies make beautiful and tasty gifts.

This recipe is from Kathleen King's new cookbook, "Baking for Friends".

An important tip: be sure to chop the nuts and chocolate very fine in a food processor (pulse to chop so the friction doesn’t warm them), or the dough will be too rough-textured to roll out smoothly. You need a graduated set of heart-shaped cookie cutters to make these. Yield: 20 sandwich cookies

Cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ pound (3 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups toasted, skinned and very finely chopped hazelnuts
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, very finely chopped
-plus-
½ cup seedless raspberry jam
½ cup confectioners’ sugar for sifting

1. Sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar with an electric mixer set on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture, just until combined. Mix in the hazelnuts and chocolate.
2. Gather up the dough and shape it into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften slightly before rolling.)
3. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a round about ¼-inch thick. Use a 3 ½-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies as close as possible to avoid excess scraps. Arrange the hearts about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Gather up the dough scraps and gently knead together, and cut out more cookies. If the dough becomes too soft to roll out, refrigerate until chilled. You should have 40 cookies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F.
5. Use a 1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the centers of 20 cookies. These will be the cookie tops. (You can bake the mini hearts to nibble on later! Don’t throw away or re-roll.) Bake, switching the position of the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the cookies begin to brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Sift some of the ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar over the hot cut-out cookies Let cool completely on the baking sheets.
6. Spread the jam on the cookie bottoms, leaving an 1/8-inch border around the edges. Add the tops, sugared sides up, and press together gently. Just before serving, sift the remaining confectioners’ sugar over the cookies.

Enter my Giveaway for your chance to win, Tate's Bake Shop - Valentine's Day Treat: Cookie Cube Tower and Baking for Friends Cookbook by Kathleen King!

Check back on Tuesday,
to see who the winner is of the Giveaway

Follow me on my Facebook page!

Visit my friends blogs!

GINGERLOCKS' KITCHEN, has become one of your favorite blogs! Stop by Jordan's blog and take a peek! 

Also visit my friend Pam's blog, Pam's Midwest Kitchen Korner,  for more great recipes!  Once you read her blog, she will be your friend too!