Stir Fry Sauce

I watched the show, Emeril Live, every single night when it was on in the late 90's so it's not a huge stretch to claim that Emeril Lagasse taught me how to cook. To this day, when I lay a huge slab of meat on the counter to start cooking, I say to myself "I don't know where you get your meat, but where I get mine, it don't come seasoned" and I throw some spice blend on there. He kills me. I'm not much of a fan of his newest adventure in informercials about selling me all kinds of small over-priced appliances that I need about as much as a gunshot wound, but he is still hysterical.

I was looking over my last few posts and realized that I have a bread addiction based on the fact that all my posts are recipes for BREAD. In honor of my recent rehab (today) from carbs, I am going to post something different. Emeril's Stir Fry Sauce. 

I used to buy this awesome sauce at the store that was like $5.00 per bottle for one meal and was full of sugar and oh so many things that I can't pronounce, so I learned how to make my own. I keep all the ingredients on hand and it takes just a minute to whip up. Next time I make it, I'll take some pictures and add them here. In the meantime, enjoy.

Combine ¼ cup cold water and 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon with 2 teaspoons cornstarch.  Mix well with a small whisk.  Microwave until it is very thick.  Add 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 teaspoons Garlic Chili Sauce (less for less hot), and 3 teaspoons brown sugar (more if you like it a bit sweeter).  Mix well.  Add a little olive oil to large pan.  Cook protein and vegetables in sesame oil, then add sauce. Cook until heated through and somewhat thickened.  Serve over cooked white rice with crunchy chow mien noodles on top.

Mom's Banana Bread

The snow finally arrived and while it took forever for Winter Storm "Xylia" to get here, it was as epic as promised. We got about 24” at our house in the foothills of Denver and it snowed harder than I have seen it snow in probably 15 years. At some points in the storm, the visibility was only a block as the neighbor’s house disappeared.

It is such a peaceful and tranquil site to stand and watch the snow fall. There is nothing quite like standing at the window mesmerized by the site with warm coffee in your favorite cup, a fluffy sweater and a 9-pound Jack Russell at your feet peeing all over your 6-month-old $12,000 hardwood floors. In an amazing feat of persistence, the Director and I were able to train our 17-year-old peanut how to use puppy pads.

As quiet as a snowstorm is, the day after a big storm is anything but quiet. The morning after is met with the constant humming of snow blowers. The best way to reconnect with your neighbors after a long cold winter is a good ole fashioned snow removal party. The Director blew snow for 3 hours helping all the neighbors dig out and for his efforts, Mrs. Tri-Level sent him home with a loaf of banana bread, arguably one of his favorite loaf shaped things in this or any other world. After a slice for dessert tonight after dinner, he proclaimed, “Not as good as yours. Your banana bread just has something special.”

The “something special” is all the butter. It only has 8 ingredients and is really easy to make. Whenever I bake this, I feel like Mom made it for me herself. Maybe next blizzard I will bake a loaf for all the neighbors so I can share that "something special".

Mom’s Banana Bread

1/2 cup room temperature butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 mashed bananas
1 cup coarse ground pecans

Using an electric mixer, cream butter, and sugar. Add eggs beating well after each one is added. Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to creamed mixture. Fold in bananas and nuts and add to loaf pan, greased with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 325° or longer if needed. Check with toothpick in the middle to make sure it is done through.

Mary Ann's Cinnamon Rolls

One of the Quintana family favorite recipes is matriarch, Mary Ann's Cinnamon Rolls. I love anything with Cinnamon, it is by far my favorite spice so naturally, I adore a good cinnamon roll. Not the butter slathered giant plate sized calorie bombs that you get at the mall, but a really good normal person version. If you agree, then this is the breakfast roll for you. This recipe makes 36 rolls and they freeze great. This is the reason I only make them once a year:

It takes me an hour to wash all the dishes when I make these things and it pretty much takes a whole day to make the dough, rise the dough, and make rolls that look like this:

Let them rise again in the pan, bake them, let them cool, frost them, and sit down finally to eat one of these bad boys. If you want to make lifelong friends with your neighbors, these will do the trick. 

Mary Ann's Cinnamon Rolls

3 packages dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 ½ cups lukewarm water
1 ½ cups milk, scalded and cooled
10 ½ cups sifted flour
9 tablespoons softened butter
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
5 whole beaten eggs

Dissolve yeast and 1 ½ tablespoons sugar in water. Add milk and 5 cups of flour and beat until smooth. Cream butter and sugar and add to yeast mixture. Add eggs, salt, and remaining flour to make a soft, sticky dough. Turn out onto floured board and knead lightly. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until double, or about 2 hours.

Roll out to ¼” thickness, roll in a rectangle shape and roll long side. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar and a LOT of cinnamon. Roll up jelly roll fashion. Cut into 2” pieces and place, cut side up, in a well-greased shallow pan. Spray waxed paper with cooking spray and cover. Let rise until double, or about 1 ½ hours.

Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes. Make a glaze with powdered sugar and water and spread on warm rolls.

Makes 36 rolls, or 3-13”x9” pans.

Noosa Greek Yogurt

While shopping for March 2021 Snowmageddon this week at King Soopers, guess what I found? Noosa Greek Yogurt! I love Noosa, but it is a guilty pleasure. I swear, a container of that coconut yogurt with a big spoonful of Cool Whip will change your mood and fix all that is wrong with the world. The problem is my favorite flavor, strawberry rhubarb, has a whopping 270 calories, 32 grams of carbs and 31 grams of sugar per container, so I eat it sparingly.

I always start a new yogurt brand test with Vanilla because I am a chicken. If I get sugary globs of mashed fruit that taste like baby food, I'm out. Vanilla is always my friend and as a general rule, I always get Vanilla anyway and add my own fruit and some granola for a delicious breakfast parfait. 

Donkey from Skrek: You know what else everybody likes? Parfaits. Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait"? Parfaits are delicious!

Well, Noosa Greek Yogurt did not disappoint. It has 12 grams of Protein and 12 grams of sugar just like my favorite Chobani Greek Vanilla yogurt. Noosa has 14 carbs which is one less than Chobani, so they are basically the same as far as nutrition value. Much better for my ever growing pandemic waistline.

Noosa is named after an Australian resort area, called Noosa, on southern Queensland’s Sunshine Coast and is Australian style yogurt, with their headquarters is in Bellevue, Colorado, just northwest of Fort Collins. I like supporting Colorado businesses if I can. 

Good job Noosa!

English Muffins

My cousin MLJ was the perfect southern hostess and always had the best, homemade food at the ready in case some unsuspecting visitor happened to drop by and was hungry, or not. The Director and I stayed with her many times at her house on the Sound and her cottage at Nags Head. She and my Dad were good buddies back in their wild and crazy days. I loved her to my soul and miss her every day.

          Dad and MLJ on her porch in N.C.

One morning she popped a zipper bag out of the freezer, and in 5 minutes we were eating homemade English Muffins. Who knew these could be made in a home? Well, I got that recipe as fast as I could and even though these came from the east coast, they work perfectly in the not so sea level altitude we enjoy in Denver. 

Here they are cooling and if you can keep your family from eating them all before they cool, and on the off chance you have any left for the freezer, they keep really well for quite a long time. Just pop that frozen disk in the microwave for 15 seconds and fork it, and it's like you just took it out of the oven.

Slather with some homemade 4 berry jam and you'll feel like you are in the kitchen of my dear cousin, eating a few of these whether you are hungry or not. Enjoy!

MLJ's English Muffins

2/3 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast
1 ½ tsp salt
3 tsp sugar, divided
1 cup warmed milk
3 ½ cups flour
3 tablespoons oil
Coarse ground yellow cornmeal

In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp sugar, dry yeast and water. Let stand until it bubbles up. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, salt, and remaining 2 tsp sugar. When yeast is ready, add to flour mixture along with milk and oil. Mix well with whisk. Add remaining flour until consistency is that of soft dough. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled. When dough is ready, knead on a floured surface about 10 times. Roll out to ¼” thickness and cut out using 4” round cookie cutter. Place on baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Heat griddle to 300 degrees. NOT TOO HOT! Don’t rush or you will burn them! Spray cooking surface lightly with cooking spray and place muffins on surface well apart. Cook 10 minutes on first side, then 5 minutes on second side. Before serving, split with fork and toast. Makes 20 muffins.

Blizzard Blueberry Muffins

The Weather Channel says we are going to get like 24" of snow and I have plenty of food and batteries and all the emergency things, but quite frankly, after a year of hunkering down for the pandemic, this really doesn't seem much different than what we have already been doing. It's a cold and dark Saturday morning in March and what is a girl to do while waiting for Colorado's 2021 version of Snowmageddon than make blueberry muffins. 

I have spent a lot of time perfecting a blueberry muffin recipe that is not too sweet, cooks light and fluffy and works great in the high altitude we struggle with here in the foothills. They are also super easy with just 8 ingredients and one bowl. That is my favorite part.

I can hardly get these out of the oven before The Director steals one, so hot he can barely touch it.

This recipe makes a perfect dozen and in honor of St. Patrick's Day this coming week, I found these cute little Shamrock liners to put them in.

Make sure you cool these before you try to pop them out of the liners or they are a crumbly mess. The Director doesn't care about such things, but trust me, they will be muffins instead of crumbs if you do.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

1 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, beaten
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
1 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 400°.  Line a muffin pan with 12 paper muffin cups or spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Combine flour, baking powder sugar and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg and milk.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just blended and lumpy. Fold in blueberries.  Divide the batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.  Bake 18-24 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on wire rack and serve warm.