Maple Syrup Pudding Cake

I ran across this recipe one day while watching The Kitchen. I decided to try for Breakfast on Thanksgiving morning! Oh my goodness delicious!! it tastes like pancakes with butter and syrup already on them! But for feeding a crowd you all get warm from the oven at the same time instead of flipping pancakes. I served mine with breakfast sausage and soft fried eggs. Soooooo good!!

Maple Syrup Pudding Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk 

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled 

1 large egg 

1 1/2 cups heavy cream 

1 cup maple syrup

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter and egg. Stir the wet mixture into the dry; the batter will be thick.

Heat a 9 or 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the cream and maple syrup and whisk to combine. Bring to a low simmer and add a pinch of salt. Turn off the heat. Using a spoon drop the cake batter into the maple syrup mixture a spoonful at a time. Make dollops of cake batter all over the pan.

Bake until the cake is set, 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes our pretty clean and the top is golden around the edges. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired. I served with breakfast sausage and eggs! Tastes like pancakes with butter and syrup on them! 

Sticky Pepper Glazed Ribs

I

I love to BBQ or grill which ever you call it, I call it BBQing. I have a good recipe for sticky asian ribs and this reminded me a bit like that, but it has LOTS of black pepper and I LOVE black pepper and sticky.... and ribs. My motto is the "messier the food, the better it is". 

One morning I was watching the food network and watched Trisha Yearwood's show and she made these. I cook my ribs differently, out on the grill after baking in foil packets low and slow. Her recipe is here if you want to see the original. I'm posting how I made them. Either way , Delish!!!

Sticky Pepper Glazed Ribs

Ingredients

Ribs:

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin 

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

2 racks baby back ribs (about 4 1/2 pounds total) cut each rack into 3 pieces or in half in they are short. You want about 3 bones per piece

Sauce:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon course ground Black pepper

4 cloves garlic, minced 

1 small onion, minced 

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 

1/2 cup apricot preserves 

1/4 cup honey 

1/4 cup ketchup 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 

Green onions for garnishing

Directions

For the ribs: Preheat the oven to 275 or 300 degrees F.

Stir the chili and cumin together with 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the rub mixture over your ribs. Place one piece of rib in aluminum foil, and fold to make a tight little packet, place on Cookie sheet. Continue until all of your rib pieces are in foil packets and in a single layer on the cookie sheet.

Bake in the oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Ribs should be slightly pulled back from the bone. Remove from oven and let cool just so you can handle the foil.

For the sauce: Meanwhile as you are baking the ribs, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the peppercorns, garlic and onion and cook, stirring, until the garlic starts to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar, preserves, honey, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until syrupy. Set aside till ribs are done.

To finish the ribs heat BBQ grill to medium heat while ribs cool. Once you are able to unwrap the foil, carefully grab ribs with tongs and place on grill, top side down. Brush the side that is up with the Pepper glaze sauce and grill for about 5 minutes with grill lid closed.

Carefully turn the ribs over, brush the tops with more Pepper glaze sauce and let grill for another 5 minutes. Remove to large cookie sheet or serving platter.

Garnish with chopped green onion if desired.

Serve and enjoy!

Creamy Mushroom and Rice soup

I had a lot of the  rice and mushroom side dish I posted earlier. My hubby's most favorite soup is cream of mushroom soup. When we were first married I didn't know how to cook that well,  so I would make the canned kind.... Funny, I never thought of just eating that like soup, thought it was strictly for casseroles. But anyway, I thought the leftovers from my mushroom rice  side dish would make a great Creamy Mushroom soup... it was delicious... Enjoy!

Creamy Mushroom and Rice soup

1/4 butter

1/4 cup flour

pinch of Thyme

fresh ground pepper

2-3 cups good chicken broth or veggie stock (depending on how thick or how much you want to make)

1 or 2 cups of half n' half  (you can use straight milk or cream but I like 1/2 n 1/2)

Left over Mushroom and Rice

Salt and pepper to taste

Make a roux by melting the butter in a soup pot or dutch oven, then add the flour and whisk into the butter; let cook for about a minute over medium heat.

Then add 2 cups of the broth while whisking. Let this cook for a few minutes until it thickens slightly.      

If it's too thick add another cup of broth. 

Add 1 or 2 cups of half n' half and about 2 cups of the mushroom and rice. I just ad-libbed this recipe, I added mushroom and rice till it was as thick as I wanted my soup to be. 

Let this simmer for a few minutes at a medium low heat so the rice is hot.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. I served with grilled sandwiches or a crusty french bread would be great too.

Enjoy!!