February 7: Glazed Cinnamon Coffee Cake

So, today was grocery day, but it was also a snow day. Whenever there is a snow day in northern Wisconsin, that usually means the roads are so bad that even a seasoned winter driver from Wisconsin is afraid to drive on them. I can drive on snow, but I did not want to brave it today. Luckily, I had all the ingredients on hand for the coffee cake recipe! Yay! I will have to get groceries tomorrow, I guess.

My kids and I had lots of activities planned for today, and one of them was to bake a coffee cake. So we started at around 10:30. I gathered up all the ingredients:

I had to generously spray the crockpot, then line the bottom with parchment paper:

I mixed up the streusel first. It was 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of baking mix, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon:

Then I mixed the batter. I mixed up 1 1/2 cups of baking mix, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, an egg, and 1 tsp vanilla:

I spread half of the batter in the bottom of the crockpot, then layered it with half the streusel, the other half of the batter, and the other half of the streusel:

I lined the lid with paper towels, then cooked it on high for 1 3/4 hours. Then I let it rest 10 minutes, inverted it onto a plate, peeled off the paper, and inverted it again onto a serving platter:

I whisked 2 tablespoons of milk into 1 cup of powdered sugar to make a glaze. I spooned on the glaze and sprinkled on the almonds:

Then I served it with cappuccino (yum):

The note under this recipe is: "This recipe works best in a round Crock-Pot slow cooker." I believe it, and it called for a 4-quart slow cooker, but the only round one I have is probably only 2 quarts. So I used my regular one. For one thing, the batter barely fits all the way to the edges. For another thing, the edges start to burn before the middle is done. I did get it to work, and it did turn out really tasty, but the edges on one side were burned and completely inedible. Other than that, I would definitely make this again.

If I'm going to be making these recipes for a whole year, I might think about investing in another crock-pot. It sure would come in handy if I have to let one soak overnight. I'll let you know what I decide.

February 6: Thai Steak Salad

It was so refreshing to have salad for dinner. The recipe is from the Lighter Bites section of the cookbook. The meat needed to cook for 3 hours, so I started at 2:00. I gathered the ingredients for the steak first:

I mixed up some honey, soy sauce, and garlic, poured it into the crockpot, tossed the steak in it, then set it to cook on high for 3 hours:

When the steak was done, I removed it and let it rest for 10 minutes, then sliced it against the grain and put it in the refrigerator to chill:

Then I gathered the ingredients for the dressing:

I mixed up hoisin, peanut butter, tomato paste, ginger, and lime juice with 1/2 cup of water:

Finally, I gathered the salad ingredients:

I tossed one shredded head of savoy cabbage and one bag of salad with the dressing. Then I added the steak, peanuts and mango (I am allergic to mangoes, so I used peaches):

I served up the salad with a lime wedge, and added cilantro to mine (hubby doesn't like cilantro):

This salad was really good. I haven't had Thai food in a long time! I left out the hot sauce for the kids, but I admit, it could have used a kick. DH liked it (he's a big peanut butter fan) and DDs liked it too. I didn't give any to the baby (he's about 15 1/2 months now). I don't know if he has enough teeth to eat a steak salad. Even though it was a cold and snowy day, I felt like I was somewhere tropical with this taste of summer!

February 5: Turkey Piccata

Tonight I made a "Meaty Main Dish." The cooking time was short, so I didn't actually start until about 4:30. I gathered the ingredients:

I put a little flour, salt and pepper in a bowl, then put a pound of turkey breast strips in, closed the lid, and shook it up well:

I heated up some olive oil and butter in a pan, then added the turkey and browned it on both sides:

I transferred the turkey to the crockpot, scraped up the browned bits in the pan with 1/2 cup of chicken broth, then added that to the crockpot. I added some grated lemon peel and 2 tsp of lemon juice. That cooked for 1 hour on low:

I was supposed to serve it with rice, and the picture shows it with broccoli. Those would have been good, but we were having pie for dessert, so I didn't want extra carbs (and I didn't have any broccoli). So I served it by itself:

This turkey was delicious and refreshing after all the beef we've had recently. I really enjoyed it. It had just the right touch of lemon.

February 4: Tuscan Beef Stew

We've been having a lot of beef lately. Tomorrow we're having turkey, and I'll be glad for that. This recipe is from the "Hearty Stews and Chilies" section of the cook book. I started it at about 10:30 this morning. I gathered all these ingredients:

There were some dried porcini mushrooms that I had to rehydrate in 1/2 cup of hot beef broth:

I cooked some bacon in a skillet:

I discarded the bacon grease, added some olive oil, and cooked the beef in the oil:

I transferred the beef to the crockpot, added the crumbled bacon, chopped porcini mushrooms, 3 cups of sliced assorted mushrooms (I used button, oyster, shiitake, and portobello), 1 cup of frozen pearl onions, 1 cup of sliced baby carrots, 1 cup of red wine, 1 can of diced tomatoes with garlic,  1/4 cup tomato paste, 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Over that I poured the broth from the mushrooms, being careful not to pour in the sediment from the bottom of the bowl:

That cooked for 7 hours on low. Then I combined 2 tbsp each of flour and butter to make a paste:

I added half of it to the stew, let it cook for 15 minutes, then added the other half and let that cook for 15 more minutes to thicken it up. Here is what it looked like when it was all done:

I cooked up some rigatoni and served the stew on top:

This stew doesn't look so good in the photo, but I can assure you, it is delicious! I absolutely loved it, possibly even better than the chuck and stout soup. Maybe because this has pasta with it. :) Hubby liked it all except for the pearl onions and the mushrooms. He's sick of mushrooms by now. I admit the mushrooms were overpowering in the last recipe, but the variety in this one was great, and they were also scarcer. It had a really good balance. So this is the closest I'll probably ever get to Tuscany.

February 3: Molasses Maple Glazed Beef Brisket

Today's recipe is from the Holiday Entertaining section of the cookbook. Here are the ingredients:

I combined some red pepper, salt and black pepper in a small bowl, then rubbed it on the meat:

In a small bowl I combined 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup molasses, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp tomato paste, juice of 1 orange, 2 mashed garlic cloves, some ginger, and 4 slices orange peel:

I was supposed to put this over the meat in a plastic zip-loc bag, but I didn't have any, so I used a glass pan with a lid. I refrigerated that for 2 hours:

I put that in the crockpot and cooked on high for about 4 hours:

When it was done, I removed it to a cutting board and sliced it across the grain.

I served it with the cauliflower dish from the other day:

This meat was very good, especially with the remaining sauce poured over the top. The rub had a whole teaspoon of ground red pepper, so this dish did turn out pretty spicy, even though the flavor was excellent. Next time I will ease up on the red pepper - maybe just use the salt and black pepper as a rub.

February 2: Gingerbread

Happy Groundhog Day! We just finished watching the movie. It never gets old. But I'm tired and want to go to bed, so I'll make this short. I started making this gingerbread tonight around 9:00. Here are the ingredients:

I creamed a stick of butter with 1/2 cup of sugar:

Then I added an egg, a cup of molasses, 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp ginger, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves and 1/2 tsp salt. I stirred it up and added a cup of hot water:

Then I poured the batter in the greased crockpot and cooked it on high for about 2 hours:

I didn't make the whipped cream, but we'll be having this for lunch tomorrow. I'll make it then. This gingerbread is very good. Moist and perfectly spiced. I think I'm going to get fat from it. Eek.

February 1: Chuck and Stout Soup

Today's recipe got a late start, so it wasn't actually ready until 10:00 at night. Tomorrow's recipe is a dessert, so we can eat this one for lunch and probably dinner tomorrow. I actually made yesterday's recipe this morning, so go here to see the cauliflower curry. It wasn't that great, and DH likes comfort foods on Fridays, so we ordered pizza tonight. I'm not sure what I'll do with the cauliflower curry... maybe eat it for lunches next week.

Anyway, here is how I made the Chuck and Stout Soup. I gathered up the ingredients and chopped the veggies:

I cubed three pounds of chuck roast and browned it in olive oil in batches in a large skillet:

Meanwhile I reduced 2 quarts of stock by half in a large saucepan:

In the crockpot I put the browned chuck, 3 sliced onions, 3 diced stalks of celery, 6 diced carrots, 4 minced cloves of garlic, 2 packages of thinly sliced cremini mushrooms, a powder-fine processed package of dried porcini mushrooms, 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, and a bottle of stout beer. Then I poured the reduced stock over top:

I cooked it for 6 hours on high, then stirred it up:

I served it with a sprig of parsley:

I took a small portion of it for a midnight snack. I really liked it. It took a long time to prepare it, what with the browning of the meat, the reduction of the sauce, and the chopping of so many vegetables. But it is definitely worth the effort. I think the mushrooms add a sort of richness to the broth. That and the stout. It's very good.

There is a note about grinding the dried mushrooms: "A coffee grinder works best for processing dried mushrooms, but a food processor or blender can also be used." I do not have a coffee grinder, so I used a food processor. It didn't work, and in fact, it almost ruined the motor. So I dumped it in the blender, and that worked much better.