Category Archives: quick

French Toast made under the Broiler

I have made French toast since I was 12 years old cooking breakfast for myself and my two younger sisters.  French Toast was on the menu most mornings.  You know it is easy if a 12-year-old can do it.   I never followed a recipe.  I just cracked 2 eggs, added milk, and mixed with a fork.  I heated my mother’s cast iron skillet to a medium high heat.  Then dropped a  couple of tablespoons of butter into the skillet.  As the butter heated I just dipped the bread into the egg mixture and threw it in the skillet.  Perfection with some syrup.  I could do this in less than ten minutes!

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Filed under Breakfast, Brunch, quick

Crispy Skin Salmon with Fresh Orange Juice

 I love this recipe!  It is a super fast one from Cooking Light that I have run in the ground at my house because it take no time to pull together. Salmon is so versatile.  Pair it with most any of your favorite  side dishes.  I like asparagus , broccoli or squash.  Maybe even a combination of all three.    For that matter I like it right out of the pan on top of a big salad that is both delicious and nutritious.  You don’t need a lot of ingredients.  Another reason to love it.    Just pick up salmon, salt, pepper, orange juice and olive oil. The recipe calls for fresh orange juice, but Minute Maid out of the carton will work fine.   So here’s what you do.

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Filed under easy, Fish, Main dish, quick

Blueberry Muffins with a hint of Lemon

 

Today is the first day of my summer vacation. It is a gorgeous day here in Atlanta.  There is not a cloud in the sky and the humidity is almost nonexistent.  Now this is not going to stay, but I am enjoying it while it is here.  To celebrate my new unfilled time I just had to make these blueberry muffins with the first blueberries I have received this season.  These were shipped here from Baxley, Georgia.  When I saw the address I was flooded with childhood memories of the beach.  Baxley is about an hour south of McRae which is my hometown.  Driving through Baxley meant that we just had to travel through Jesup and we would arrive at our destination St. Simons.  Then my sister and I would have all the pool time and beach time we wanted. 

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Filed under Breakfast, easy, Muffins, quick

Frozen Creams with Strawberries

 

After making this I had some heavy cream  just sitting in my  refrigerator calling out to me every time I opened the door. Frozen creams are one of my favorites.  I love this dessert. Whipped cream and strawberries are the perfect match in so many ways. It is rich, creamy, decadent and yet so simple.   It is the perfect dessert for any meal.   Now with the temperature heating up this frozen delight will hit the spot.  And you could not ask for anything so easy.  If you can whip cream you can make this. 

It is also versatile with endless toppings.  You could use most any fruit that you have available.  Blueberries would be a great choice or fresh apricots with toasted almonds. My mouth waters just thinking about cranberries with oranges, sugar and  toasted pecans.  And more decadence could be orange marmalade with shaved chocolate.  My gracious the list could go on and on.  Create your own special piece of heaven.

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Filed under Desserts, quick

Savory Seafood Penne

This recipe came from Men’s Health.  Don’t you read Men’s Health every month?  Yea right.  You know it is a good magazine.  Gi Joe and The Athlete read it religiously.  It is a good magazine.  I will have to say that I have sat down and read my share of issues.  This is a recipe that The Athlete found last April.  I have prepared it at least a half-dozen times.  It is good for you and easy to make. 

This week I had a huge bag of beautiful spinach in my box from CSA and wanted to make good use of it.  I also had pesto left over from this recipe that I wanted to use. 

I changed the original  recipe today  and sautéed the spinach then added all the other ingredients.  I like the  original recipe better. The reason?  The hot pasta just does wilt the spinach and it gives more texture to the dish.   So here it is for you to enjoy.  Look at what you are getting:  22 grams of protein, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber . 

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Filed under pasta, quick, Shrimp

Cheese Biscuits and a Mission Accomplished – Vote Here

Today was our last lab for quick breads and  the students ended the unit with a bang!  All the biscuits that were made today were so good!  Biscuits are not the easiest bread to make especially for beginners.  At first you  are not quite sure how the dough should feel and how much to knead it.  And then there is always the question of how much flour to add to the dough to keep it from sticking to your hands.   I was very impressed when I talked with each group about what they learned.  Here are some of their comments

  • These are so easy to make.
  • They are better than the drop biscuits that we made from Bisquick.
  • We have all the ingredients at home.
  • Why would anyone buy those refrigerated things when you can make these?
  • You can make these really small , eat two and fool yourself into thinking you are eating more.
  • I had no idea that I could bake biscuits that tasted so good.
  • We can save money baking biscuits from scratch.
  • I want to make these for my mom.

 

So  my mission for this unit is accomplished and we are ready to move on. 

You will find the recipe for Basic Biscuits here and to make the Cheese Biscuits make the following changes:

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Filed under Biscuits, Cheese, quick

Mediocre Muffins and Voting for the best!

These muffins here are not mediocre!  They are fantastic.  You can find the recipe for them here

What we did yesterday as a demo and today as a lab was mediocre.  I really was questioning whether or not I should blog about this lab, but my students convinced me that I should share my opinion about the new Duncan Hines whole wheat muffin mixes.  So here goes. 

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Filed under corn muffins, Muffins, quick

Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits and Vote!

I raved in the previous post about these Buttermilk Biscuits.  Southern Living shared four variations of the Buttermilk Biscuits and here is one of them.  These Cinnamon-Raisin Biscuits  quoting GI Joe ” are vacation good!”  Before jumping in the kitchen to prepare them  take the time to read the post on Buttermilk biscuits and make the following changes.  You’ll have a breakfast hit on your hands.

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Filed under Biscuits, Cinnamon Rolls, quick, Recipes

Buttermilk Biscuits

I have been drooling over these biscuits for 2 1/2 years!  Why have I not made these sooner you ask?  It is a little bit of a change.  You see I have been making these since I was 12 years old.  They are good!   

My Gosh, I have  been cheating myself.  These biscuits are absolutely the best I’ve ever eaten.  And  I have tasted my share of biscuits.  2,000 to be exact!  I didn’t even  figure in the ones that I  baked nor the ones I’ve eaten at friends and family.  So I know biscuits.  WRONG!  These are incredible.  I first saw them in Southern Living in November of 2007.  I even pulled the recipe out to save and try later.  I just kept looking at it thinking, ” They can’t be that great.”     

My students made this recipe and I wanted to post something different. So here it is  Buttermilk Biscuits that got pushed to the back burner.  After all I have made buttermilk biscuits many times in my life. What’s the big deal?  It appeared again last month in Southern Living Our Test Kitchen Secrets.  Secret?  What could be so secret about making biscuits?  

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Filed under Biscuits, quick, Recipes

Shrimp Pasta with Pesto Sauce

There are essential ingredients that should be on hand so that you can throw a great meal together without even thinking.  If everyone would do this we could put the fast food industry out on its last leg.  Think about it.  I grew up in a small town where we did not have endless possibilities for dinner.  My mother shopped once a week  and we never ate out.

As parents we have got to do the right thing for our children.  Do you realize that the high school students that I am teaching this year have a lower life expectancy than I did growing up?   Down the road we all are going to pay for what we are doing to our children.  In the classroom I see all aspects of poor eating habits plus no exercise.  It is scary!    Let me share with you a great article that I used in my classroom a couple of weeks ago. Share the link with all of your friends and let’s do something about the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States.  Sarah shares her tips  here that we as parents can do to make our children healthier. My students found all of Sarah’s links quite interesting. I was quite surprised at their interest.  Please for our children’s  health take the time to read this great information and share it with parents.  Let’s do our part to keep America’s children healthier.

Back to the shrimp.  Here is a recipe for a great meal and I am sure that most of the  ingredients will be on hand.  This means that it will be on  the table in the time that it take to cook the pasta.  Think about it the next time you are tempted to eat take out.

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Filed under pasta, quick, Shrimp