Oatmeal Cake

This is another of my Gram's recipes that I have loved for many, many years. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour. I have substituted this for 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour and 3/4 cups ground oats. I find this adds another layer of oat flavor and a better texture to the cake. This typically disappears rather quickly!

Ingredients
1 cup Oats
1 1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup White Sugar
2 egg
1/2 cup oleo (butter may be used)
1 tablespoon ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup all-purpose Flour
3/4 cup ground Oats (oat flour)

Frosting
6 tablespoons Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup cream (milk works as well)
1 cup sweetened Coconut

Process
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the oats and boiling water, set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix the brown & white sugar and the eggs until blended. Add the oleo.Blend until mixed.

In a large bowl, mix the cinnamon, soda, salt, oat flour and all-purpose flour. Add the sugar mixture. Beat until well blended.

Pour the batter into a greased 13x9 Pyrex, and bake for approx. half an hour to 45 minutes, or until set. A wooden tester inserted should come out clean. Remove from oven, and allow to cool.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, brown sugar, and cream. Cook until incorporated, and the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and stir in the coconut. Pour this frosting over the cake. Let cool, and enjoy!

Rock Cakes

I have a gathering I am going to tonight, and decided to be nice, and fix some snacks to take with. I found this recipe in "The Scottish-Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook". This is an amazing book, with a ton of great recipes. The original recipe is below, which I made one batch of. Flavoured with spices and raisins, these small cakes or buns are rocky-looking mounds, great favourites afternoon tea and in-between snacks. They are easy and simple to prepare and keep well. The original recipe is good, but as I always do, i had to try to make it even better. *MY* recipe is below the original.

Rock Cakes
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3 tblsp brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup raisins or currants
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, spray with Pam.

Into a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Mix in the sugar. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture is uniformly crumbly. Stir in raisin or currants. Add the egg and enough milk to make a stiff dough. Spoon onto prepared cookie sheet by the teaspoonful, about an inch apart.

Bake in a preheated oven until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Beast's Rock Cakes
2 cups ground oats
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
3 tblsp brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup raisins or currants
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
Fruit jam, your choice of flavors

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil, spray with Pam.

Into a large bowl sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Mix in the sugar. Stir in raisin or currants. Melt the butter, and mix with the milk, and then the egg. Add wet mixture to dry mixture, to make a stiff dough. Roll two tsps of dough into a ball, then place on the cookie sheet. press down in the middle with your thumb to make an impression. Fill the impression with about 1/2 tsp of jam.


Bake in a preheated oven until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle the tops with sugar.

Irish Brown Bread

 
A couple of years ago I made my first loaf of Irish Soda Bread for an SCA event I attended, and instantly fell in love. I loved the thick, hearty texture and simple, yet complex, flavor. It’s perfect for toasting and slathering with butter and jam, to soak up extra broth from your favorite stew or to eat as a quick grab-a-snack! Any way you cut it, it’s fabulous bread that I have enjoyed over and over since first trying it. My wife even enjoys it! This year, I started seeing mention of Irish brown bread and went about trying to find some authentic recipes. Well, I found tons. And they all seemed to contradict each other in terms of what makes Irish brown bread truly “authentic” – some had to contain oats, some said absolutely no eggs, some said only four ingredients, and the list goes on and on. In the end it seemed that there was no one set of rules for Irish brown bread and I decided on this version. I loved this version because it included such a wide variety of flours and grains – all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and a combination of wheat bran and wheat germ. I used a stone-ground whole wheat flour and wheat germ since I didn’t have any wheat bran on hand. To be honest, I didn’t have any wheat germ either, but Wal-Mart did, and pretty inexpensive, too. It takes the hearty texture of the bread to a whole new level and is absolutely, utterly delicious. I cut the original recipe in half since the original calls for such a large amount of flour. The original poster suggested dividing the recipe into two loaves, but I just halved it and made one.

Irish Brown Bread

1 cup + 1½ teaspoons whole wheat flour
½ cup + 1½ teaspoons wheat bran, oat bran or wheat germ, or a combination
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and put it on the center oven rack.

2. Whisk together the whole wheat flour and wheat/oat bran or wheat germ in a large bowl.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the wheat flour mixture and whisk to combine.

4. Add the butter pieces and rub them into small pieces with the flour mixture using your fingers, until as small as possible.

5. Stir in the buttermilk and molasses until the dough is uniformly damp. Turn out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead gently, until the dough forms a smooth ball.

6. Use a sharp serrated knife (or a lame) to slice a cross deeply into the top of the bread, about 1-inch deep. Place the loaf on the hot baking sheet.

7. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the loaf is firm on top and when you tap the bottom, feels hollow.

8. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before serving.

Oven-baked Country Style Bar-b-qued Pork Ribs

  

1 1/2 - 5 lbs. country style pork ribs, with or without bones
½  c. lemon juice
2 medium onions, sliced
2 c. water
1 ½  c. ketchup
½ c. vinegar
4 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. Paprika

Line an 8x12 Pyrex casserole dish with a heavy foil. Trust me, this is IMPORTANT to your sanity when clean up time comes. Make sure the foil is up the sides as well, as this sauce is a pain to get off!  Put half the chopped onion in the bottom of the pan.

After trimming off the excess fat, place the ribs in the pan and sprinkle the remaining onion over the top. Pour the lemon juice over the ribs, and then brown in a preheated 375°F oven for 45 minutes, uncovered.

While the ribs are browning, combine the rest of the sauce ingrediants in a large pot and slowly bring to a simmer on top of the oven.

When the ribs have browned, pour off most of the liquid in the pan (save the onion) and add the sauce. It should be enough to fully cover the ribs. Add more water if needed, depending on how many ribs you have.

Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake at 425 degrees for 2 hours. Uncover the pan and bake for about 30 minutes more until the sauce cooks down. The meat should just about fall off the bones and the sauce is about half its original volume. We used boneless pork ribs, and they were DELICIOUS!

Spiced Brownies

As I was rummaging through the pantry yesterday, looking for something yummy to eat, I came across a box of Jiffy yellow cake mix. I’ve no idea when I bought this, as it is not something I typically keep on hand. Looking it over, I wasn’t really thrilled with a yellow cake. I wanted something sweet, but not that. SO I decided to hop online, and see what other amazing creations people had done with this $.40 box of mix. I came across this recipe, and decided “what the heck, might as well, eh?” Thank God I did.. these are AMAZING!! We put whipped cream on them, and devoured them..

• 1 pkg."JIFFY" Golden Yellow Cake Mix
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 dash of nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. cloves
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter
• 2 Tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease an 8" square pan.

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine the egg, margarine or butter and water in another bowl. Mix both bowls together.  Stir by hand until well blended.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Cool and cut. Top with whipped cream, or ice cream, or...

Simple, easy, and delicious!

Crock Pot Chicken Marengo

Chicken Marengo was supposedly served to Napoleon after the battle of Marengo in Italy in 1800.  Don’t know if that’s really true, but I can tell you that it’s delicious.  It can be served over french bread, but we like it over rice.

 

1 whole chicken, chopped up and skinned
salt and pepper
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced or pressed (or 1 tsp minced)
1 cup dry white wine
1 14-1/2 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
12 ounces mushrooms, washed, dried and sliced
1 tablespoon cognac (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

As most crock pot meals, this recipe is fairly simple.Mix salt, pepper and flour in a bowl and dredge chicken breasts in it. Saute breasts in butter and oil until brown.  Place in crock pot.  Add onion and garlic to pan and saute about 5 minutes.  Add rest of ingredients, except fresh basil.  Stir and pour over chicken.  Cook on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 4-6 hours. Add fresh basil about 30 minutes before serving.  If using dried basil, add along with other ingredients.  Serve over bread or rice.