bcmom's kitchen

bcmom's kitchen

Monday, June 30, 2014

Baking without Eggs

What do you do when you're in the middle of baking and suddenly realize there are no eggs in the house?  Substitute something else you do have, of course!  I saw these Egg Substitutions on Facebook and thought this list might come in handy someday.  So I'm sharing.


I'm going to have to try some of these even if I'm not out of eggs.  Just because.  I'll save the eggs for omelets!


Friday, June 27, 2014

Handy Reference of Cooking and Baking Substitutions

Here's a great list of handy baking substitutions for those times when you're in the middle of a recipe and realize you're out of an essential ingredient.  Chances are you have something in your pantry that can be substituted.

Source: eReplacementParts.com

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Coconut Macaroons

I had some egg whites in the fridge - leftover from my Secret Recipe Club recipe, which you will get to see on July 7, so be sure to come back for that - so I went looking for a recipe to use the egg whites.  I had a recipe saved from a while back, but I decided to try something else, even though I haven't tried that one yet.  It looks really good, so I am going to have to try it next time.


These just sounded interesting.   Once again, I am making cookies with cereal.  These also called for cornflakes, and I still don't have any, so I used a combination of Wheaties and Honey Bunches of Oats.

Coconut Macaroons
from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • 1-1/2 cups flaked coconut
  • 3 cups cereal, crushed (I used 2 cups Wheaties and 1 cup Honey Bunches of Oats)
Directions:
  1. Grease cookie sheets (or use silicon baking mat).  Preheat the oven to 350° F
  2. In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Stir in sugar. Fold in coconut and crushed cereal. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
  3. Bake for 18-20 minutes in preheated oven, or until golden.  Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before moving from cookie sheets to cooling racks.
Makes about 3 dozen

These turned out really good.  They're kind of gooey in the middle with a nice crunch from the cereal.  The only thing I want to change next time is to cut down the sugar.  I should have read the reviews before making these, instead of after, because several people mentioned cutting the sugar down. 


A couple of the reviewers also mentioned that these weren't really like macaroons, which I don't really know because I've never made them before, or even had any as far as I can remember.  All I know is that these are really yummy, and it's hard to stop eating them!

Tip: Measure cereal into mixing bowl and use a plastic cup to crush it.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, and Feta

I know I've seen some recipes for spinach stuffed chicken breasts, probably on Pinterest, but when I started looking, I didn't find any that were exactly what I was looking for.  So I just put some stuff together, and it really turned out good.  The flavors were amazing.


Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach, and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 large handfuls fresh spinach
  • Sea Salt
  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 to 4 T. crumbled feta
Directions:
  1. Heat tomatoes and oil in a skillet over medium high heat; add onions and garlic, and cook until onions become translucent.  Add spinach and continue cooking until spinach is wilted.  Add a pinch of sea salt, and set aside.
  2. Place a chicken breast between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet or the bottom of a heavy pan until breast is about 1/4" thick.
  3. Spread half of tomato/spinach mixture on chicken breast.  Crumble 1 to 2 T. feta on top and roll chicken breast up, starting with the narrowest end.  Secure with toothpicks and transfer to a baking dish.  Repeat process with second breast.
  4. Drizzle the breasts with any oil remaining in the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and bake at 350° F for 30 minutes.
  5. Let sit for 5 minutes; Remove toothpicks, slice and serve.

And that's it.  It's really simple, and has me wondering why I haven't tried this before.  There is a lot of going back and forth between handling raw chicken and spreading other ingredients or whatever, so it's really handy to have a sink full of soapy water while you do this.  Or just keep using more soap and washing your hands like I did.

Spread tomato/spinach mixture on chicken; crumble feta on top
I didn't really measure any of my ingredients, but these amounts are close, and this is one of those things where it doesn't really matter.  Throw in what you have or what looks good to you.

Roll up, secure with toothpicks, and place in baking dish
I think this is going to become a regular recipe around here.  The flavors go together so well, and the chicken is really moist and flavorful.


Of course, now that I've discovered how easy it is to make stuffed chicken breasts, I may have to find some other things to stuff them with too.  What do you think?  What would be good stuffed into a chicken breast?

Friday, June 6, 2014

No Bake Cereal Cookies

I got this recipe from a family friend years ago, and I had almost forgotten about it.  So, when I found it again this week, I just had to make some.  They're a sweet and gooey treat and perfect for when you don't want to heat up your kitchen by turning on the oven.

The original recipe uses corn flakes, but I didn't have any so I decided to use Honey Bunches of Oats w/ Almonds.  I think they turned out great!  These would probably be good with any kind of flake or mixed cereal that you like.

 
No Bake Cereal Cookies

Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup corn syrup
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 3 cups cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats or corn flakes)
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
Directions:
  1. Measure cereal and oats into large bowl.
  2. Combine sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter in saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
  4. Pour syrup over the corn flakes and oatmeal; Stir to combine.
  5. Drop by spoon onto greased cookie sheets (or silicon mat) to cool. Do not use waxed paper. The cookies will stick. 
Makes about 2 dozen

    Of course, on a hot day you will be tempted to store these in the refrigerator.  That's fine, but you will want to bring them to room temperature before attempting to eat them.  They will be a bit hard!  Trust me, they're better when they're all ooey gooey and chewy.

    Enjoy!

    Sunday, June 1, 2014

    Honey Lemon Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary

    It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.  I have really enjoyed Shelby's blog since I first found it through SRC, so I was very excited to have the chance to choose and share a recipe.  I am especially in love with that blog header because those cinnamon rolls look amazing!  (I actually made a variation of one of her SRC recipes once - Apple Filled Cinnamon Rolls)

    As with all SRC assignments, the hardest part is narrowing it down and deciding which recipe to try.  Here are just a few of the other recipes that caught my eye:

    I eventually chose this one, which looks and smells so good even before you cook it.  (Yep, definitely worthy of a raw meat pic!)


    Honey Lemon Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary
    from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch

    Ingredients:
    • 3 lemons
    • 4 T butter
    • leaves stripped from 4 rosemary stalks
    • 3 T honey
    • 2 cloves garlic, minced
    • Chicken pieces (I used 1 breast and 2 leg quarters)
    • 6 medium potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
    Directions:
    1.  Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan; add the juice squeezed from two of the lemons, garlic, honey and rosemary.  Season with salt and pepper.
    2. Arrange chicken in a shallow baking dish.  Place the potatoes around the chicken and drizzle the lemony butter over the potatoes and chicken, turning them so they are evenly coated. Cut the third lemon into wedges and add to the pan with the chicken and potatoes.
    3. Bake at 350° for one hour or until chicken juices run clear and potatoes are golden.  Stir twice during baking time.
    Enjoy!

    Seriously, this smelled so good!  From the time I melted together the honey lemon garlic rosemary butter, to the time it came out of the oven.  If only it had tasted as good as it smelled.  It was good, but the flavor of the lemons kind of took over.  We wanted to taste all the flavors we were smelling.


    So, next time, I'm cutting the lemons down and maybe using 1 lemon in the sauce - or maybe just 1/2 of a lemon.  I'll definitely keep the lemon wedges in, though.  They bake down and fall apart, and taste amazing when you suck what's left of the lemon off of the rind.  The chicken was really good and moist, and the potatoes were cooked perfectly, so I'd say this recipe is a keeper.  If you really like a lot of lemon flavor, then go ahead and use the 3 lemons.  Otherwise, use a bit less lemon, and I think it will be absolutely perfect.
     



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