Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and yours a wonderful feast with family and friends and a great thankfulness that the Lord has allowed us another year to see this day!

 

 

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise;

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.   
Psalms 100:4

Shortbread Crust for Custard Tart

Total Time:   1 hour 30 minutes

Prep Time:   1 hour 10 minutes

Cook Time:   20 minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients for Crust:  


1/2 cup salted butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 cup flour (sifted) 

1 cup flour (sifted)ze

Update

 

Directions:

1.)  In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy with electric mixer ( about 3 minutes). 

2.)  Add extract, mix thoroughly ( 1 minute).

3.)  Incorporate flour, just a little at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined.

4.)  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

5.)  Turn dough out on a lightly floured board and roll out to 1/3 inch thickness. 

6.)  Line a tart pan (10 x 1" high with removable bottom) with the pastry dough.

7.)  Prick dough and palce in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.

8.)  Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or golden brown.

9.)  Remove from oven, cool and fill with pastry cream top with fresh fruit

        (kiwi, banana, strawberry, green seedless grapes, blueberries).

Teriyaki Chicken & Rice - 20 Minutes

Ever had one of those days when you just know that your not going to have time for everything on the to do list for the day, and a good dinner for the family... as well!  This recipe was brought about by one of those long overwhelming days.  I threw this dish together... it's a make it, set it aside and forget about it meal... just what you need for one of those kind of days. 

Ingredients:

Pre-cooked Chicken

(I typically keep grilled chicken in the freezer for stuff like this)

Rice

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

3 Tbsp of Ketsup

1/4 cup water

Directions:

In a bowl, mix brown sugar, soy sauce, water and ketsup. Stir until well blended. Set aside. Measure out enough rice to feed your family. Pour it into a rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, you can still do this on the stove, it just takes a little more watchful eye. Measure out the correct amount of liquid for your rice.

 

For example, I do 2 cups of dry rice for my little family. This means I will need 4 cups of liquid. I should have almost a cup of teriyaki sauce mixed in my bowl. I will then need approximately 3 more cups of water. If you want a stronger teriyaki flavor simply increase the amount of sauce you prepare and decrease the extra waterm accordingly. Pour the teriyaki sauce in the rice cooker. Add the extra water. Dice the chicken and dump it in the cooker as well. Set the cooker to cook and walk away. Serve when the switch flips from "cook" to "warm", at least that's what mine does. I usually serve it with steamed veggies or mix the veggies right in.. Super simple and prep time is like ten minutes max.

Scandinavian Spice Cake

 

Scandinavian food is usually mild and spiceless, but not this cake. The aroma of this cake is intoxicating. This traditional spice cake is great treat with the coffee and it's so easy to make. You need only one bowl to mix.

Dry Ingredients:

  2 dl Dark Farin sugar (Brown sugar) = 0.85 cups

0.5 dl White sugar = 0.21 cups

(Or just 1.5 dl white sugar with 1 dl brown syrup. Mix syrup with liquids) = 0.63 cups white sugar with 0.42 cups brown sugar

4.5 dl Flour = 1.9 cups

1 ts baking soda

1 ts baking powder

(ground spices into a fine powder)

2 ts Cardamom

2 ts Cinnamom

2 ts Ginger

2 ts Clove

1 ts Allspice (Pimenta dioica)

1 ts Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans)

2 tbls Dark cacao powder

1/2 ts salt

(*ts = teaspoon, tbls. dl = deciliter)

Liquids:

 

2 dl Buttermilk or yoghurt

2 eggs

1 dl Coconut Oil (Good quality.)

Other veggie oils are ok too, and definitely more "scandinavian style", but I love cold pressed coconut oil. Even if you hate coconut smell and taste, from these flavors it won't pop up.

Mix all dry ingredients well in big bowl with the wooden fork or spoon. And then, add all room temperature "liquids" once, and mix them well with the dry ingredients, but don't whip them too much. You just need to get smooth dough. Room temperature is really important with the coconut oil. If the dough is too cold, it solidifies. If that happen, don't worry. This cake is pretty much impossible to ruin. Just place your bowl over hot water bath and mix even.

Pour into oiled cake mold and bake in the oven 175° (celsius, it's about 350° in fahrenheit) 45 minutes.

And here comes the hardest part: Turn mold over and let the cake settle . I know, I know, you would love to eat it right away, but it's better when it's cooled down.