Coffee Cake

This one is a bit of a tease.  This is a family secret recipe.  My Mom makes these all the time and they turn out very well indeed! Take a look at the soft fluffy crumb and the line of sugary cinnamon my Mom achieves in this beautiful cake!  I just hope you have a secret coffee cake this good in your family repertoire!

English Scones

Scones are great to whip up for a Sunday big breakfast.  I like to make mine cut into triangles from a rolled out 3/4 inch thick rectangle of dough. Plain or Cheese filled or even better Ham and Cheese!! They all taste great, hot out of the oven cut in half and slathered with butter! 

I bake my scones on an air bake sheet, no fear of blackening the bottoms.  

Half with ham and cheddar the other half plain!

Sometimes I cut them out with a round cutter. 

But they are so much hardier as triangles! 

However you shape them you need to put them in a very hot oven and cook them for a short period of time. Do not leave them unattended at the ten minute mark, keep a good eye on them they brown very quickly!

English Scones Recipe

INGREDIENTS: Basic Plain Scone 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (256gm) 2 ½ tsp (12ml) baking powder 1/2 tsp salt (3ml) 1/4 cup (65 gm) butter 1 cup (250 ml) milk Optionally use raisins, cheddar cheese, or ham and cheese.  You can also use a 1/4 cup of sugar if you like them sweet.

METHOD: Preheat oven to 425°F or 220°C. Grease baking tray. I use an air bake tray, you will be hard pressed to burn anything on it. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in the butter till mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in any of the optional ingredients if you are using them. Add the milk and mix to make a smooth dough. (add more milk if necessary to ensure mix is not too dry) Knead very lightly for ten seconds on a lightly floured surface. Roll or pat to about 3/4" thick (2 cm) and either cut into individual scones or cut into wedges, leaving intact (pizza style) to make a loaf. Baking time approximately 12 minutes for individual scones, 15-20 minutes for loaf-style. Brush tops with melted butter after removing from the oven. Variation: Cheese Scones: Method as above, add 2/3 cup (70 gm) grated Cheddar cheese, and 1/2 tsp (3 ml) dried oregano to the dry mixture before adding the milk. Top each scone with a little additional cheese before baking.

Surf and Turf

Surf and Turf, a fancy meal that is easy to assemble and definitely fun to eat.  Platter all the food and set it out family style and then just sit back and watch everyone dig in.  Don't leave it too long though, there won't be any Surf and Turf left for you! 

Baseball steaks are always handy to have on hand, fresh or straight out of the freezer.  I like to grill mine on full heat as hot as I can get the grill.  Char the outsides of the steak for a couple of minutes or until you like the look of the char.  Then I move them over to the unheated side of the grill and roast them off till they are reading 115 F  internal temperature.

Take them off the grill and let them rest covered in tinfoil for at least five minutes.  The internal temperature will continue to rise and eventually hit 120 F.  For me this is the perfectly done rare steak.  You can continue to cook yours longer if you like, but the more you cook it now the drier and tougher it will be.

To cut baseball steaks I buy a large top sirloin steak about three inches thick.  Then I cut out square chunks of beef to create the baseball shaped steaks

Boil up as many Lobsters as you need.

How to Cook Lobster – Boiling

Put 6 inches of water in a 12-14 quart pot. When cooking lobster, it is important to bring water to a full boil. Add 1/4 cup of salt and drop lobster in head-first. Bring water to a boil again, continue cooking lobster and then reduce heat to medium.

Cooking lobster by size:

• 1 lb. lobster - cook lobster for 12 minutes
• 1.5 lb. lobster - cook lobster for 15-18 minutes
• 2 lb lobster - cook lobster for 10-22 minutes

Once the shell is bright red, remove lobsters from water and serve with melted butter.

How to Cook Lobster – Steaming

Using a 10qt. pot, add an inch of water and add salt. Place something with holes in the bottom of the pot so the lobster never actually sits in the water. Bring water to rapid boil, add the lobsters. Cover pot.

Cooking lobster by size:

• Under 2 lbs - cook lobster for 10-12 minutes
• 2 lbs. and over - cook lobster for 15-20 minutes

After cooking lobster for recommended time shut off heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Clean some shrimp!  Garlic butter shrimp always makes a nice side dish!

Ensure your brother in-law has a piece of stale toast for dinner and gets out before the guests arrive!

Get some vegetables on the grill.

Platter your Lobster in a creative and festive way.

Serve your rare Baseball Steak slivered into thin pieces.

That is some great food for sharing! 

Scalloped Potatoes

Scalloped Potatoes

Ingredients
5 medium potatoes
1 onion
milk
butter
flour
salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F
Cut potatoes into thin rounds. Layer in a casserole or baking pan. Cover with sliced onions, sprinkle of flour, salt and pepper!  I put thyme into this one for a change. Dot the layer with small butter cubes.
Repeat until you are out of potatoes or you fill your casserole.
Pour milk into casserole just so you can see it but not up to the top of the casserole.
Put on top rack of oven and cook until potatoes are tender for about an hour.

Honey Garlic Chicken Wings

Ingredients

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• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbls. corn starch
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tbls. soya sauce
• 1 tbls. honey
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or 2 tbls. garlic powder

How to make it

---

• Combine sugar with corn starch, and garlic powder if using it.
• Add water, soya sauce, honey and fresh garlic, if using fresh.
• Bring to a boil stirring constantly.
• Pour sauce over your cooked meat and serve immediately or keep warm in low heat oven.

                                                                                                                               

   

Gather the ingredients.
    

Make yourself a Caesar! 

And a few appetizers! 

Cut tips off of chicken wings! 

Prepare honey garlic sauce in pan!

Deep fry your chicken to perfection.

Drop the chicken into the sauce and coat thoroughly.

Serve and eat.

Diamond Cut Clove Studded Baked Ham

 Baked Ham

Anyone can reheat a vac packed cured ham in the oven.  With a few minutes extra work, you can make your ham look like it's right out of a Thanksgiving Painting by Norman Rockwell!  

Here's how you do it! 

Cut a crisscross pattern in the fatty side of the cured ham with a really sharp knife.  Make sure you score about 3/4 of an inch deep as you go.  Don't worry if you cut through the fat and into the meat a bit.  It will turn out great just the same.

Now that the ham is cross hatched with deep cut lines, take cloves and begin to stick them into the ham at the point where each crisscross intersects.  This will take some time but the end result is visually stunning to say the least! 

Put the roast fat side up into a roasting pan and put it in the oven 350F for as long as your ham size needs to cook through to 165F intermal temperature.

As the roast heats up it will begin to shrink and the diamond pattern you created by cutting the fat in a crisscross will begin to pop out and look fabulous.

The finished product will impress everyone who sees your Diamond Cut Roasted Ham!