Time to Get My Bake On

There is one request I get everytime around the holidays...Poppyseed Bread.  My coworkers, family, and friends can seem to get enough of the bread.  The recipe I use is one my grandmother, aunts, and mama used so I don't think they will mind if I share with you.

Poppyseed Bread


         Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons butter flavored extract
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs 1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon butter flavored extract 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions


 
1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease bottoms of two 9-inch loaf pans.
2.     Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, poppy seeds, butter flavoring, oil, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and almond flavoring. Pour into prepared pans.
3.     Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for one hour. Cool 5 minutes. Poke holes in top of loaves and pour glaze over.
4.     To make glaze: Mix orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring, 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add enough confectioners' sugar to make glaze.

Traditional Thanksgiving

I love that Thanksgiving brings family together.  However, last year our family was a bit sparse. It consisted of my husband, myself, and my in laws. Despite the low numbers I was determined to make certain food items from scratch.  Starting with the cranberry sauce. 

Ingredients:

1/2 orange
2 C water
1 tart apple
3 C fresh cranberries
1 1/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Directions:

Squeeze the juice from the orange, set aside.  Then remove and discard the membrane.  Cut the rind into small pieces and place in saucepan with the water.  Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Set aside.

Peel, core, and dice up the apple, place in saucepan. Sort cranberries, discarding any soft ones.  Add the cranberries, orange juice, cinnamon, and cloves to the apples and rind.  Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan partially. Simmer, gently stirring occasionally until tender and the cranberries have burst.

Transfer sauce to a heat proof bowl and let cool for 1 hour before serving.

Makes approximately 4 cups.

By the way, my father in law, who hates cranberry sauce, fell in love with mine!

My Mama's German Pork Chops

What is the one dish that your Mama always makes that you absolutely love?  Mine was her German Pork Chops.  This is the dish I always wanted for my birthday dinner or for a Sunday dinner. 
When I was dating my husband I called her up and asked her for the recipe because I wanted him to love this dish as much as I did.  The only piece of paper I could find in my future husbands place was a receipt so I wrote it down on the receipt. 
About a year and a half after we married, my Mama passed away unexpectedly.  I would never again taste her cooking.  However, I was excited that I had the recipe, or so I thought.  I had misplaced the receipt!  I was devastated.  I asked everyone I knew if Mama had given them the recipe, I scoured her recipe books and hand written notes.  It was lost! 
It has been almost three years since she passed and last winter I decided to go through some papers to shred.  I looked at each and every paper coming out of the box. Lo and behold I came across that receipt that I had written on four years ago.  Now I want to share the recipe with everyone else.  Hope you enjoy!

1 package of pork chops (you can use boneless)
2 small onions (diced)
1 regular sized can of sauerkraut per every three pork chops
2 cups of brown sugar (golden brown)
garlic
pepper
olive oil

Place olive oil in a pan and sear the pork chops for about a minute on high heat.  Drain the sauerkraut. Cut up the onions.  Place all the ingredients into a crock pot with sauerkraut on top.  Cook for 7 to 8 hours on low.

In the Mood for Kielbasa

Ingredients:

·  12 oz pasta of your choice (I used penne)

·  1 lb polish sausage

·  2 T canola oil

·  24 ounce jar pasta sauce

·  2 14.5 ounce cans of Italian diced tomatoes

·  1 tsp dried oregano

·  1 tsp dried parsley

·  1/2 tsp black pepper

·  1/4 C dry bread crumbs

·  8 ounces Monterrey Jack cheese

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage in oil until browned on both sides, 5 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, combine pasta of your choice, sausage, diced Italian tomatoes, pasta sauce, oregano, parsley and pepper. Mix well. Pour 1/2 of mixture into 9x13 baking dish.Sprinkle with cheese. Then pour the rest of the mixture into the pan. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and top with shredded cheese.
5. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 to 15 minutes more, until top is golden.